^y  Of  PRiN^ 


06ICAL  S£>^'^ 


BV3315  .B72  1902 
Brown,  Arthur  Judson,  1856-1963. 
Report  of  a  A/isitation  of  the  Siam  and  Laos 
missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Fore 
Missions  / 


REPORT 


OF  A 


VISITATION  OF 

THE  CHINA  MISSIONS 


BY 

/ 


THE  REV.  ARTHUR  J.  BROWN,  D.  D., 
Secretary 


IAP\X  22-SEPTEMBER  19,   1901 
THIRD   EDITION 


Printed  for  the  Use  of  the  Board  and  the  Missions 

BY  THE 

BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH    IN   THE    U.  3.  A., 

156  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

1902 


REPORT     ^%?«4L  ivi0^' 

ON  A 

Visitation  of  the  Missions  in  China 

OF  THE 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the   U.  S.  A. 

BY 

THE  REV.  ARTHUR  J.  BROWN,  D.  D.,  Secretary. 


While  I  visited  Central  and  Southern  China,  particularly 
in  and  about  the  large  stations  of  Canton  and  Shanghai,  I 
gave  the  greater  part  of  my  four  months  in  China  to  the 
three  missions  in  the  north,  where  the  anti-foreign  uprising 
of  last  year  wrought  such  havoc  to  our  work  and  where  such 
stupendous  problems  of  reconstruction  now  confront  us. 

Many  will  sympathize  with  the  emotions  which  stirred  my 
heart  as  I  entered  the  Peking  Mission,  hallowed  to  us  by  the 
sufferings  and  death  of  so  many  of  our  Chinese  fellow 
Christians  and  of  all  our  beloved  missionaries  who  laid  down 
their  lives  for  Christ  during  the  awful  summer  of  1900. 
When  I  think  of  all  that  the  survivors  endured  I  wonder  that 
their  health  was  not  irretrievably  shattered.  Several,  in- 
deed, had  been  forced  to  leave  before  I  arrived,  invalided 
home  by  order  of  the  mission.  But  others  were  heroically 
and  self-sacrificingly  at  their  posts,  and  almost  daily  and 
sometimes  nightly,  too,  during  the  two  weeks  of  my  visit 
there,  we  studied  and  prayed  together  concerning  the  grave 
questions  which  have  been  forced  upon  us. 

Naturally,  we  took  an  early  opportunity  to  visit  not  only 
the  places  made  memorable  by  the  great  siege,  but  the  sites 
of  our  former  mission  work.  I  say  former,  for  the  desola- 
tion is  complete.  The  very  fact  that  the  railroad  train  on 
which  we  traveled  to  Peking  rushed  noisily  through  a  ragged 
chasm  in  the  wall  of  the  Chinese  city,  and  stopped  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  within  whose  sacred  en- 
closure we  saw  lounging  British  Sikhs,  was  suggestive  of 
the  consequences  of  war,  and  now  we  rode  past  innumerable 
wrecked  houses,  crumbling  towers  and  shell-pierced  walls, 
and  through  motley  throngs  of  Manchus,  Chinese,  German, 


French,  Italian,  British  and  Japanese  soldiers  to  Duck  Lane, 
which,  though  narrow,  is  not  so  unimportant  a  street  as  its 
name  implies.  But  where  devoted  missionaries  had  so  long 
lived  and  toiled  are  now  only  shapeless  heaps  of  broken 
bricks  and  a  few  tottering  fragments  of  walls.  Sadly  we 
journeyed  to  the  Second  street  compound  to  find  even  greater 
ruin,  if  that  were  possible.  Silently  we  stood  beside  the 
great  hole  which  had  once  been  the  hospital  cistern  and  from 
which  the  Japanese  soldiers,  after  the  siege,  had  taken  the 
bodies  of  a  hundred  murdered  Chinese,  whose  putrefaction 
was  a  menace  to  the  health  of  the  neighborhood.  Not  all 
had  been  Christians,  for  in  that  carnival  of  blood  many  who 
were  merely  suspected  of  being  friendly  to  foreigners  were 
killed,  while  foes  took  advantage  of  the  tumult  to  pay  o&  old 
scores  of  hate.  The  bricks  that  can  be  saved  would  not  pay 
for  the  clearing  away  of  the  debris.     The  loss  is  total. 

It  was  worth  traveling  far  to  meet  the  surviving  Christ- 
ians. The  sadness  of  the  occasion  was  lessened  by  the  un- 
expectedly large  number.  The  first  reports  which  came  to  New 
York  were  that  80  per  cent  of  our  native  Christians  and  three- 
fourths  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  boarding  schools  had 
been  killed  or  had  died  under  the  awful  hardships  of  that 
fatal  summer.  But  as  the  months  passed,  first  one  and  then 
another  and  another  were  found.  Husbands  searched  for 
wives,  parents  for  children,  brothers  for  sisters,  until  now  no 
less  than  250  of  the  adult  baptized  Christians  (including  fifty 
at  Paotingfu),  besides  many  baptized  children  and  other 
adherents  and  inquirers,  are  known  to  be  living. 

About  200  of  these  surviving  Christians  and  their  families 
are  living  together  in  native  buildings  adjoining  the  residence 
which  the  missionaries  occupy.  But  while  it  was  a  joy  to 
meet  them  we  could  not  forget  that  they  had  a  history  of 
agony  and  bereavement.  For,  including  those  who  fell  at 
Paotingfu,  191  of  their  fellow  Christians  had  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom,  so  Vr  '.  almost  every  survivor  had  lost 
father  or  mother,  brother  or  sister  or  friend.  The  Chinese 
are  supposed  to  be  a  phlegmatic  people  and  not  given  to 
emotion.  But  never  have  I  met  a  congregation  more  swiftly 
responsive  than  this  one  in  Peking.  I  bore  to  them  loving 
messages  from  the  Board,  from  the  Women's  Boards,  from 
the  Chinese  Christians  of  San  Francisco  and  from  the  Christ- 
ians of  Korea.  My  own  words  were  not  of  commiseration, 
but  alxjng  the  line  of  Peter's  encouragement  of  the  persecuted 
"elect  sojourners"  who  had  been  "kept  by  the  power  of 
God  through  faith  unto  salvation ;  "  and  these  modern  saints, 
like  those  of  old,  find  the  trial  of  their  faith  "  precious  "  and 
even  amid  their  tears  rejoice  in  Him  "whom,  having  not 
seen,  they  love." 


Clouds  lowered  over  us  as  we  left  Peking  at  ten  minutes 
to  8  o'clock,  Saturday  morning,  July  6th,  on  the  Peking  & 
Hankow  Railway  for  Paotingfu,  that  city  of  sacred  and  pain- 
ful interest  to  every  American  Christian.  Soon  rain  began 
to  fall  and  it  steadily  continued  while  we  rode  over  the  vast 
level  plain,  through  unending  fields  of  kao-liang,  interspersed 
with  plots  of  beans,  peanuts,  melons  and  cucumbers,  and 
mud  and  brick  walled  villages  whose  squalid  wretchedness 
was  hidden  by  the  abundant  foliage  of  the  trees,  which  are 
the  only  beauty  of  Chinese  cities.  At  almost  every  railway 
station  roofless  buildings,  crumbling  walls  and  broken  water 
tanks  bore  eloquent  witness  to  the  rage  of  the  Boxers.  At 
Liang  Hsiang  Hsien  the  first  foreign  property  was  destroyed, 
and  all  along  the  line  outrages  were  perpetrated  on  the  in- 
offensive native  Christians.  Nowhere  else  in  China  was  the 
hatred  of  the  foreigner  more  violent,  for  here  hereditary 
pride  and  bigoted  conservatism,  unusually  intense  even  for 
China,  were  reinforced  by  Boxer  chiefs  from  the  neighboring 
province  of  Shantung,  and  were  particularly  irritated  by  the 
aggressiveness  of  Roman  Catholic  priests  and  by  the  con- 
struction of  the  railroad.  It  is  a  part  of  the  trunk  line  which 
is  to  run  southward  from  Peking  to  the  great  city  of  Hankow 
on  the  Yang-ste  River.  It  is  being  built  by  a  Belgian 
syndicate,  and  trains  are  running  the  110  miles  to  Paotingfu. 
But  the  schedule  is  slow  and  the  stops  long,  so  that  it  was 
not  till  three  o'clock  that  we  sighted  the  strong  wall  of 
Paotingfu.  A  minute  later,  as  we  silently  stood  at  the  car 
windows,  we  passed  the  ruins  of  our  mission  compound,  and 
soon  we  arrived  at  the  large,  well-built  brick  station,  from 
which  we  bumped  and  splashed  in  a  Chinese  cart  through  nar- 
row,muddy  street  to  the  spacious  residence  of  a  wealthy  Chinese 
family  who  had  deemed  a  hasty  departure  expedient  when 
the  French  and  British  forces  entered  the  city,  and  whose 
house  had  been  assigned  by  the  magistrate  as  temporary 
quarters  for  Mr.  LovVrie.  ''-:  > 

As  some  additional  facts  have  come  to  light  since  the 
preparation  of  Mr.  Lowrie's  leaflet  on  the  "  Tragedy  of 
Paotingfu,"  it  appears  desirable  to  restate  the  narrative,  so 
that  it  may  be  brought  down  to  date.  As  all  the  Presby- 
terian martyrs  in  China  fell  at  Paotingfu,  every  scrap  of  in- 
formation should  be  preserved  with  sacred  care.  It  is 
impossible  to  ascertain  all  the  details.  None  of  the  for- 
eigners live  to  tell  the  painful  story.  No  other  foreigners 
reached  Paotingfu  until  the  arrival  of  the  military  expedition 
in  October,  three  and  a  half  months  later.  The  Chinese  who 
had  participated  in  the  massacre  w^ere  then  in  hiding. 
Spectators  were  afraid  to  talk  lest  they,  too,  might  be  held 
guilty.     Most  of  the  Chinese  Christians  who  had  been  wnth 


the  missionaries  were  killed,  while  others  were  so  panic- 
stricken  that  they  could  remember  only  the  particular  scenes 
with  which  they  were  directly  connected.  Moreover,  in 
those  three  and  a  half  months  such  battles  and  national  com- 
motions had  occurred,  including  the  capture  of  Peking  and 
the  flight  of  the  Emperor,  that  the  people  of  Paotingfu  had 
half  forgotten  the  murder  of  a  few  missionaries  in  June. 

In  these  circumstances  full  information  will  probably  never 
be  obtained,  though  additional  facts  may  yet  turn  up  from 
time  to  time.  But  from  all  that  can  be  learned,  and  from 
the  piecing  together  of  the  scattered  fragments  of  informa- 
tion carefully  collected  by  the  Rev.  J.  Walter  Lowrie,  who 
accompanied  the  expedition,  it  appears  that  Thursday,  June 
28th,  several  Chinese  young  men  who  had  been  studying 
medicine  under  Dr.  Taylor  came  to  him  at  the  city  dispensary, 
warned  him  of  the  impending  danger  and  urged  him  to 
leave.  When  he  refused  they  besought  him  to  yield,  and 
though  several  of  them  were  not  Christians,  so  strong  was 
their  attachment  to  their  teacher  that  they  shed  tears. 

Dr.  Taylor  placed  the  dispensary  and  its  contents,  to- 
gether with  the  adjacent  street  chapel,  in  charge  of  the 
District  Magistrate  and  returned  to  the  mission  compound 
outside  the  city.  That  very  afternoon  startling  proof  was 
given  that  their  alarm  w^as  not  ill-founded,  for  the  Rev.  Meng 
Chi  Hsien,  the  native  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
was  seized  while  in  the  city,  his  hands  cut  off,  and  the  next 
morning  he  was  beheaded,  the  first  martyr. 

The  missionaries  then  decided  to  leave,  drew  their  silver 
from  the  local  bank  and  hired  carts.  But  an  olBcial  assured 
them  that  there  would  be  no  further  trouble,  and  they  con- 
cluded to  remain.  It  is  doubtful  whether  they  could  have 
escaped  anyway,  for  the  very  next  afternoon,  Saturday,  June 
30th,  a  mob  left  the  west  gate  of  the  city,  and,  marching 
northward  parallel  to  the  railroad,  turned  eastward  through 
a  small  village  near  the  mission  compound,  which  has  always 
been  the  resort  of  bad  characters,  and  attacked  the  mission 
between  5  and  6  o'clock. 

The  first  report  that  all  the  missionaries  were  together  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Simcox  is  now  believed  to  have  been 
erroneous.  The  Hodges  were  there,  but  Dr.  Taylor  was  in 
his  own  room  in  the  second  story  of  Mr.  Lowrie's  house. 
Seizing  a  magazine  rifle  belonging  to  Mr.  Lowrie,  he  showed 
it  to  the  mob  and  warned  them  not  to  come  nearer.  But  the 
Boxers  pressed  furiously  on,  in  the  superstitious  belief  that 
the  foreigner's  bullet  could  not  harm  them.  Then,  being 
alone,  and  with  the  traditions  of  a  Quaker  ancestry  strong 
within  him,  he  chose  rather  to  die  himself  than  to  inflict 
death  upon  the  people  he  had  some  to  save.     The  Boxers 


set  fire  to  the  house,  and  the  beloved  physician,  throwing 
the  rifle  to  the  floor,  disappeared  amid  the  flame  and  smoke. 
But  the  body  was  not  consumed,  for  a  Chinese  living  in  a 
neighboring  village  says  he  saw  it  lying  in  the  ruins  of  the 
house  several  days  afterward,  and  that  he  gave  it  decent 
burial  in  a  field  near  by.  But  there  are  hundreds  of  un- 
marked mounds  in  that  region,  and  he  is  unable  to  indicate 
the  particular  one  which  he  made  for  Dr.  Taylor's  remains. 
Mr.  Lowrie  has  made  diligent  search  and  has  opened  a 
number  of  graves,  but  has  found  nothing  which  can  be 
identified. 

In  the  Simcox  house,  however,  the  two  men  were  charged 
with  the  defense  of  women  and  children,  and  to  protect  them 
if  possible  from  unspeakable  outrage,  when  they  realized 
that  persuasion  was  vain,  they  felt  justified,  as  a  last  desper- 
ate resort,  in  using  force.  The  testimony  of  natives  is  to 
the  effect  that  at  least  two  Boxers  were  killed  in  the  attack, 
one  of  them  the  Boxer  chief ,  Chu  Tu-Tze,who  that  very  day 
received  the  rank  of  the  gilt  button  from  the  Provincial 
Judge  as  a  recognition  of  his  anti-foreign  zeal,  and  an  en- 
couragement to  continue  it,  and  who  was  shot  through  the 
head  while  vociferously  urging  the  assault  from  the  top  of  a 
large  grave  mound  near  the  compound  wall. 

The  story  that  little  Paul  and  Francis  Simcox,  frightened 
by  the  heat  and  smoke,  ran  out  of  the  house  and  were  des- 
patched by  the  crowd  and  their  bodies  thrown  into  a  well, 
now  appears  to  be  unfounded.  All  died  together,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Simcox  and  their  three  children,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Hodge  ;  Mr.  Simcox  being  last  seen  walking  up  and  down 
holding  the  hand  of  one  of  his  children. 

It  is  at  least  some  comfort  that  our  loved  ones  were 
spared  the  outrages  and  mutilations  inflicted  on  so  many  of 
the  martyrs  of  that  awful  summer,  for  unless  some  were 
struck  by  bullets,  death  came  by  suffocation  in  burning 
houses — swiftly  and  mercifully.  No  Boxer  hand  touched 
them,  living  or  dead,  but  within  less  than  an  hour  from  the 
beginning  of  the  attack,  the  end  came,  and  the  flames  did 
their  work  so  completely  that,  save  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Taylor, 
nothing  remained  upon  which  fiendish  hate  could  wreak  itself. 
Husbands  and  wives  died  as  they  could  have  wished  to  die — 
together,  and  at  the  post  of  duty. 

The  next  morning  the  Boxers,  jubilant  over  their  success 
the  night  before,  trooped  out  to  the  American  Board  com- 
pound in  the  south  suburb.  The  two  ladies  took  refuge  in 
the  chapel,  while  Mr.  Pitkin  remained  outside  to  do  what  he 
could  to  keep  back  the  mob.  But  he  was  speedily  shot  and 
then  decapitated.  His  body,  together  with  the  bodies  of 
several  of  the  members  of  the  Meng  family,  was  thrown  into 


a  hastily  dug  pit  just  outside  the  wall  of  the  compound,  but 
his  head  was  borne  in  triumph  to  the  Provincial  Judge,  who 
was  the  prime  mover  in  the  outbreak.  He  caused  it  to  be 
fixed  on  the  inside  of  the  city  wall,  not  far  from  the  south- 
east corner,  and  nearly  opposite  the  temple  in  which  the  re- 
maining missionaries  were  imprisoned.  There,  the  Chinese 
say,  it  remained  for  two  or  three  weeks,  a  ghastly  evidence 
of  the  callous  cruelty  of  a  people  many  of  whom  must  have 
known  Mr.  Pitkin  and  the  good  work  done  at  the  mission 
compound  not  far  distant.  When  sorrowing  friends  arrived 
in  October  the  head  could  not  be  found,  but  it  has  since  been 
recovered  and  buried  in  the  pit  with  his  fellow  martyrs. 

The  fate  of  the  young  women,  Miss  Morrill  and  Miss 
Gould,  thus  deprived  of  their  only  protector,  was  not  long 
deferred.  After  the  fall  of  Mr.  Pitkin,  they  were  seized, 
stripped  of  all  their  clothing  except  one  upper  and  one  lower 
garment,  and  led  by  the  howling  crowd  along  a  path  leading 
diagonally  from  the  entrance  to  the  compound  to  the  road 
just  east  of  it.  Miss  Gould  did  not  die  of  fright  as  she  was 
taken  from  the  chapel,  as  was  at  first  reported,  but  at  the 
point  where  the  path  enters  the  road,  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  chapel,  she  fainted.  Her  ankles  were  then  tied  to- 
gether, and  another  cord  lashed  her  wrists  in  front  of  her 
body.  A  pole  was  thrust  between  legs  and  arms,  and  she 
was  carried  the  rest  of  the  way,  while  Miss  Morrill  walked, 
characteristically  giving  to  a  beggar  the  little  money  at  her 
waist,  talking  to  the  people,  and  with  extraordinary  self- 
possession  endeavoring  to  convince  her  persecutors  of  their 
folly.  And  so  the  procession  of  bloodthirsty  men,  exulting 
in  the  possession  of  two  defenceless  women,  one  of  them 
unconscious,  wended  its  way  northward  to  the  river  bank, 
westward  to  the  stone  bridge,  over  it  and  to  a  temple  within 
the  city,  not  far  from  the  south-east  corner  of  the  wall. 

Meantime,  Mr.  Cooper,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bagnall  and  their 
little  daughter,  had  begun  the  day  in  Mr.  Bagnall's  house, 
which  was  a  short  distance  east  of  the  American  Board  com- 
pound, and  on  the  same  road.  Seeing  the  flames  of  the  hos- 
pital, which  was  the  first  building  fired  by  the  Boxers,  they 
fled  eastward  along  the  road  to  a  Chinese  military  camp, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant,  whose  commanding  officer 
had  been  on  friendly  terms  with  Mr.  Bagnall.  But  in  the 
hour  of  need  he  arrested  them,  ruthlessly  despoiled  them  of 
their  valuables,  and  sent  them  under  a  guard  to  the  arch  con- 
spirator, the  Provincial  Judge.  It  is  pitiful  to  hear  of  the 
innocent  child  clinging  in  terror  to  her  mother's  dress.  But 
there  was  no  pity  in  the  heart  of  the  cruel  judge,  and  the  lit- 
tle party  was  sent  to  the  temple  where  the  Misses  Morrill 
and  Gould  were  already  imprisoned. 


All  this  was  in  the  morning.  A  pretended  trial  was  held, 
and  about  four  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  all  were  tak- 
en to  a  spot  outside  the  south-east  corner  of  the  city  wall, 
and  there,  before  the  graves  of  two  Boxers,  they  were  be- 
headed, and  their  bodies  thrown  into  a  pit. 

Months  passed  before  any  effort  was  made  by  the  foreign 
armies  in  Peking  to  reach  Paotingfu.  Shortly  after  the  oc- 
cupation of  the  capital  I  wrote  to  the  Secretary  of  State  in 
Washington  reminding  him  again  of  the  Americans  who  at 
last  accounts  were  at  Paotingfu,  and  urging  that  the  United 
States  commander  in  Peking  might  be  instructed  to  immedi- 
ately send  an  expedition  there,  not  to  punish,  for  I  did  not 
deem  it  my  duty  to  discuss  that  phase  of  the  question,  but  to 
ascertain  whether  any  American  citizens  were  yet  living,  and 
to  inake  an  investigation  as  to  what  had  happened. 

Secretary  Hay  promptly  cabled  Minister  Conger,  who 
soon  wired  back  that  all  the  Americans  at  Paotingfu  had 
been  killed.  The  United  States  forces  took  no  part  in  the 
punitive  expeditions  sent  out  by  the  European  commanders, 
partly,  no  doubt,  because  our  Government  preferred  to  act 
on  the  theory  that  it  would  be  wiser  to  give  the  Chinese 
government  an  opportunity  to  punish  the  guilty,  and  partly 
because  the  Administration  did  not  wish  the  United  States  to 
be  identified  with  the  expeditions  which  were  reputed  to  equal 
the  Boxers  in  the  merciless  barbarity  of  burning,  pillaging, 
ravishing  and  killing. 

Still,  it  is  not  pleasing  to  reflect  that  though  there  was  an 
ample  x\merican  force  in  Peking,  only  a  hundred  miles  away, 
we  are  indebted  solely  to  an  English,g£Jieral-  fox  the  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  any  a'ccurafe'Information  as  to  the  fate  of 
eleven  Americans  in  Paotingfu.  An  expedition  of  inquiry, 
at  least,  might  have  been  sent.  But  as  it  was,  it  was  not  till 
October  that  three  columns  of  Europeans  (still  no  Americans) 
left  for  Paotingfu.  One  column  was  French,  under  General 
Baillard.  The  second  was  British  and  German,  under  Gen- 
erals Campbell  and  Von  Ketteler,  both  of  these  columns 
starting  from  Tientsin.  The  third  column  left  Peking  and 
was  composed  of  British  and  Italians,  led  by  General  Gaselee. 
The  plan  was  for  the  three  columns  to  unite  as  they  ap- 
proached the  city.  But  General  Baillard  made  forced  marches 
and  reached  Paotingfu  October  15th,  so  that  when  General 
Gaselee  arrived  on  the  17th,  he  found,  to  his  surprise  and 
chagrin,  that  the  French  had  already  taken  bloodless  posses- 
sion of  the  city.  The  British  and  German  columns  from 
Tientsin  did  not  arrive  till  the  20th  and  21st.  With  them 
came  the  Rev.  J.  Walter  Lowrie,  who  had  obtained  permis- 
sion to  accompany  it  as  an  interpreter  for  the  British. 

The  allied  Generals  immediately  made  stern  inquisitions 


8 

into  the  outrages  that  had  been  committed,  which,  of  course, 
included  those  upon  Roman  Catholics  as  well  as  upon  Protes- 
tants. Mr.  Lowrie,  as  the  only  man  who  could  speak  Chinese, 
and  the  only  one,  too,  who  personally  knew  the  Chinese,  at 
once  came  into  prominence.  To  the  people  he  appeared  to 
have  the  power  of  life  and  death.  All  examinations  had  to 
be  conducted  through  him.  All  accusations  and  evidence 
had  to  be  sifted  by  him.  The  guilty  tried  to  shift  the  blame 
upon  the  innocent,  and  enemies  sought  to  pay  off  old  scores 
of  hatred  upon  their  foes  by  charging  them  with  complicity 
in  the  massacres.  It  would  have  accorded  with  Chinese  cus- 
tom if  Mr.  Lowrie  had  availed  himself  to  the  utmost  of  his 
extraordinary  opportunity  to  punish  the  antagonists  of  the 
missionaries,  especially  as  his  dear  friends  had  been  remorse- 
lessly murdered,  and  all  of  his  own  personal  property  des- 
troyed. It  was  not  in  human  nature  to  be  lenient  in  such 
circumstances,  and  the  Chinese  fully  expected  awful  venge- 
ance. 

Profound  was  their  amazement  when  they  saw  the  man 
whom  they  had  so  grievously  wronged  acting  not  only  with 
moderation  and  strict  justice,  but  in  a  kind  and  forgiving 
spirit.  Every  scrap  of  testimony  was  carefully  analyzed  in 
order  that  no  innocent  man  might  suffer.  Instead  of  secur- 
ing the  execution  of  hundreds  of  smaller  oificials  and  com- 
mon people,  Mr.  Lowrie  counseled  the  Generals  to  try  Ting 
Jung,  who  at  the  time  of  the  massacre  was  Provincial  Judge, 
but  who  had  since  been  promoted  to  the  post  of  Provincial 
Treasurer  and  acting  Viceroy ;  Kwei  Heng,  the  commander 
of  the  Manchu  garrison,  and  Weng  Chan  Kwei,  the  colonel 
in  command  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  forces,  who  had  seized 
the  escaping  Bagnall  party  and  sent  them  back  to  their  doom. 
The  evidence  plainly  showed  that  these  high  officials  were 
the  direct  and  responsible  instigators  of  the  uprising,  that 
they  had  ordered  every  movement,  and  that  the  crowd  of 
smaller  officials.  Boxers  and  common  people  had  simply 
obeyed  their  orders.  They  were  found  guilty  and  condemned 
to  death. 

Was  ever  retributive  justice  more  signally  illustrated  than 
in  the  place  in  which  they  were  imprisoned  pending  Count 
von  Waldersee's  approval  of  the  sentence  ?  The  military 
authorities  selected  the  place,  not  with  reference  to  its  former 
uses,  of  which,  indeed,  they  were  ignorant,  but  simply  because 
it  was  convenient,  empty  and  clean.  But  it  was  our  street 
chapel  and  dispensary,  the  very  dispensary  in  which  the  mar- 
tyred Dr.  Taylor  had  so  often  healed  the  sick  in  the  name  of 
Christ.  Mr.  Lowrie  says  that  he  looked  through  the  window 
of  the  chapel,  where  curious  gazers  had  been  wont  to  gape  at 
him  during  a  Sunday  morning  service,  and  that  he  heard  the 


pitiful  moans  of  the  once  powerful  Acting  Viceroy,  a  hand- 
some man  of  forty-five,  now  a  condemned  felon  in  the  ,room 
where  the  Christ  he  hated  had  been  preached.  In  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  where  Mrs.  A.  P.  Lowrie  had  taught  classes  of 
Chinese  women,  lay  the  proud  Taotai,  of  Tientsin,  who  was 
also  adjudged  worthy  of  death  for  his  crimes-in  that  city,  and 
who  was  afterward  sent  back  to  the  scenes  of  his  iniquities 
and  beheaded  there.  The  remaining  rooms  about  the  little 
court,  which  we  had  rented  for  our  work,  held  the  other  dis- 
tinguished criminals. 

Not  long  afterwards,  the  three  officials  were  led  out  of 
the  city  to  a  wide,  level,  open  space,  just  east  of  a  little  clump 
of  trees  not  far  from  the  south-west  corner  of  the  city  wall, 
and  as  near  as  practicable  to  the  ruins  of  the  mission  build- 
ings and  the  place  where  the  missionaries  had  been  behead- 
ed, and  there,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  foreign  soldiers,  they 
were  themselves  beheaded. 

Nor  was  this  all,  for  Chinese  officials  are  never  natives  of 
the  cities  they  govern,  but  are  sent  to  them  from  other  prov- 
inces. Moreover,  they  usually  remain  in  one  place  only  a 
few  years.  The  people  fear  and  obey  them  as  long  as  they 
are  officials,  but  often  care  little  what  becomes  of  them  after- 
ward. They  had  not  befriended  them  during  their  trial,  and 
they  did  not  attend  their  execution.  The  Generals,  therefore, 
felt  that  some  punishment  must  be  inflicted  upon  the  city. 
Chinese  cities  are  proud  of  the  stately  and  ponderous  towers 
which  ornament  the  gates  and  corners  of  the  massive  city 
wall,  and,  as  they  imagine,  protect  them  from  foes,  human 
and  demoniac.  All  of  these,  but  two  comparatively  small 
ones,  were  blown  up  by  order  of  the  foreign  generals.  The 
temples  which  the  Boxers  had  used  for  their  meetings,  in- 
cluding the  one  in  which  the  American  Board  and  China  In- 
land Missionaries  had  been  imprisoned,  were  also  destroyed, 
while  the  splendid  official  temple  of  the  city,  dedicated  to  its 
patron  deity,  was  utterly  wrecked  by  dynamite. 

Not  till  March  23d  could  memorial  services  be  held. 
Then  a  party  of  missionaries  and  friends  came  down  from 
Peking.  The  remaining  Christians  assembled.  The  new 
city  officials  erected  a  temporary  pavilion  on  the  site  of  our 
compound,  writing  over  the  entrance  arch  :  "  They  held  the 
truth  unto  death."  Within,  potted  flowers  and  decorated  ban- 
ners adorned  the  tables  and  walls.  It  was  solemnly  impres- 
sive; Mr.  Lowrie,  Dr.  Wherry  and  Mr.  Killie  and  others  mak- 
ing appropriate  addresses  to  an  audience  in  which  there  were, 
besides  themselves,  fifteen  missionaries,  representing  four 
denominations,  German  and  French  army  officers,  Chinese 
officials  and  Chinese  Christians.  A  German  military  band 
furnished  sweet  music,  and  two   Roman   Catholic   priests   of 


the  city  sent  flowers  and  kind  letters.  The  following  day,  a 
similar  service  was  held  on  the  site  of  the  American  Board 
compound. 

We  sadly  visited  all  these  places.  It  was  about  the  hour 
of  the  attack  that  we  approached  our  own  compound.  Of 
the  once  pleasant  homes  and  mission  buildings  not  even  ruins 
are  left.  A  few  hundred  yards  away,  I  should  not  have  been 
able  to  distinguish  the  site  from  the  rest  of  the  open  fields  if 
my  companions  had  not  pointed  out  marks  mournfully  intel- 
ligible to  them,  but  hardly  recognizable  to  a  stranger.  The 
very  foundations  have  been  dug  up  by  Chinese  hunting  for 
silver,  and  every  scrap  of  material  has  been  carried  away. 
Even  the  trees  and  bushes  have  been  removed  by  the  roots 
and  used  for  firewood.  In  front  of  the  Simcox  house  are  a 
few  unmarked  mounds.  All  but  one  contain  the  fragments 
of  the  bodies  of  the  Chinese  helpers  and  Christians,  and  that 
one,  the  largest,  holds  the  few  pieces  of  bones  which  were 
all  that  could  be  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Simcox  house.  A 
few  more  may  yet  be  found.  We  ourselves  discovered  five 
small  pieces,  which  Dr.  Lewis  afterwards  declared  to  be 
human  bones.  But  their  charred  and  broken  condition 
showed  how  completely  the  merciful  fire  had  done  its  work 
of  keeping  the  sacred  remains  of  our  dear  ones  from  the 
hands  of  those  who  would  have  shamefully  misused  them. 
The  American  Board  and  China  Inland  Mission  compounds 
are  also  in  ruins,  a  chaos  of  desolation.  But  as  the  martyred 
missionaries  and  native  Christians  were  beheaded  and  not 
burned,  their  bodies  have  been  recovered  and  interred  in  a 
long  row  of  twenty-three  graves. 

Sunday  I  preached  to  the  little  company  of  Christians  re- 
maining. It  was  difficult  to  repress  emotion  as  I  faced  the 
unexpectedly  large  number  of  fifty-eight  men  and  twenty-two 
women,  and  realized  all  that  they  had  endured  for  Christ's 
sake.  Again  a  tenderness  of  feeling  was  manifest  which 
will  make  it  ever  impossible  to  believe  that  all  the  Chinese 
are  stolid.  I  wish  that  all  our  Christians  at  home  could  have 
seen  that  group  of  humble  Chinese  Christians  in  that  open 
courtyard  as  they  sang  and  prayed  and  communed  with  me. 
I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  feel  that  I  helped  them  half  as 
much  as  they  helped  me.  That  service  was  a  spiritual  tonic 
to  me.  There  is  hope  for  China  when,  after  all  that  has 
passed,  such  Christians  are  yet  to  be  found. 

I  gave  longer  time  to  the  two  Shantung  missions,  partly 
because  our  work  in  that  province  is  so  extensive,  and  partly 
because,  except  for  the  unfinished  line  from  Tsingtau,  there 
are  no  railroads  as  in  the  Chihli  province.  I  visited  each  of 
our  seven  stations  in  Shantung,  besides  most  of  the  stations 
of  other  Boards,  traveling  by  water  along  the  coast,  but  for 


five  weeks  in  a  rude  mule  litter  called  a  shendza,  far  into  the 
interior,  going  to  our  remotest  stations  and  traversing  the 
heart  of  the  region  where  the  Boxers  originated.  I  preferred 
to  travel  quietly,  without  military  escort ;  but  neither  the 
United  States  Consul  nor  the  Governor  of  the  Province  would 
consent,  insisting  that  the  life  of  a  foreigner  was  not  yet  safe 
and  that  they  could  not  afford  to  risk  the  consequences  of 
further  trouble.  So  our  little  party  of  two  or  three  was 
"guarded"  all  the  way  by  from  two  to  eleven  Chinese 
soldiers. 

All  the  missionaries  in  the  Province,  except  in  the  ports 
of  Chefoo  and  Tsingtau,  Were  forced  to  leave  their  stations 
in  June,  1900,  and  were  unable  to  return  till  March  19th  of 
this  year,  when  several  of  the  men  re-entered  the  interior 
under  guard.  The  great  Wei  Hsien  station  was  in  ruins,  and 
several  of  the  Chinanfu  and  Ichowfu  buildings  had'  been 
damaged  and  looted.  Chiningchow,  our  most  distant  and, 
as  we  had  always  supposed,  our  most  perilously  located  sta- 
tion, was  not  revisited  until  my  arrival  with  Mr.  Laughlin 
and  Dr.  Lyon,  and  we  were  surprised  to  find  that  the  reports 
which  had  reached  us  were  true — everything  was  untouched 
and  just  as  it  had  been  left  by  the  missionaries  more  than  a 
year  before. 

It  was  good  to  see  every  man  of  the  two  Missions  at  his 
post,  living  in  more  or  less  discomfort,  particularly  at  Wei 
Hsien,  under  constant  guard  of  Chinese  soldiers,  except  dur- 
ing one  or  two  bold  visits  to  the  Christians  in  the  out-stations, 
but  calm,  self-reliant,  hopeful  for  the  future,  and  determined 
to  stay,  if  possible,  in  order  to  shepherd  the  scattered  and 
frightened  Christians,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  prepare  for 
permanent  return  with  their  families  in  the  fall.  I  had  long 
and  helpful  conferences  with  them,  inspecting,  under  their 
guidance,  all  the  mission  property,  and  meeting  as  many  of 
the  Chinese  Christians  as  could  be  gathered  at  each  place. 
In  August,  all  the  missionaries  returned  to  the  coast  for  the 
annual  mission  meeting  at  Tsingtau,  which  had  been  kindly 
called  for  that  early  date  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  my 
presence.  I  remained  throughout  the  session,  greatly  to  my 
profit,  and  we  planned  together  in  delightful  fellowship  the 
work  of  the  future. 

In  all  the  many  cities  I  visited  in  China,  I  freely  conferred 
not  only  with  our  own  missionaries,  but  also  with  those  of 
other  Boards,  European  and  American,  Protestant  and 
Roman  Catholic,  as  well  as  with  consuls,  editors,  business 
men  and  American,  German,  English  and  Chinese  civil,  naval 
and  military  officials.  Everywhere  I  was  cordially  received, 
and,  as  I  look  at  my  voluminous  notebooks,  I  am  increasing- 
ly grateful  to  the  men  of  all  faiths  and  nationalities  who  so 
generously  aided  me  in  my  search  for  information. 


CAUSES  OF  UPRISING. 

As  for  the  causes  of  the  great  uprising,  a  few  main  con- 
siderations stand  out  amid  the  chaos  of  conflicting  rumors 
and  opinions. 

It  is  true,  but  misleading,  to  say  that  the  Chinese  have 
"  no  word  or  written  character  for  patriotism,  but  150  ways 
of  writing  the  characters  for  good  luck  and  long  life,"  For 
while  the  Chinese  may  have  little  love  for  country,  they  have 
an  intense  devotion  to  their  own  customs.  For  nearly  5,000 
years,  while  other  empires  have  risen,  flourished  and  passed 
away,  they  have  lived  apart,  sufficient  unto  themselves,  cher- 
ishing their  own  ideals,  plodding  afong  their  well-worn  paths, 
ignorant  of,  or  indifferent  to,  the  progress  of  the  western 
world,  continuing  to  mechanically  memorize  dead  classics, 
despising  foreigners  as  inferiors,  and  standing  still  amid  the 
tremendous  onrush  of  modern  civilization.  But,  of  course, 
it  was  impossible  for  so  vast  a  nation,  especially  one  repre- 
senting a  fourth  part  of  the  human  race,  to  permanently 
segregate  itself.  The  river  of  progress  cannot  be  perma- 
nently stayed.  It  will  gather  force  behind  an  obstacle  until 
it  is  able  to  sweep  it  away.  The  present  commotion  is  the 
breaking  up  of  this  fossilized  conservatism.  It  is  such  a 
tumultuous  upheaval  as  the  crusades  caused  in  breaking  up 
the  stagnation  of  mediaeval  Europe.  As  France  opposed  the 
new  ideas,  which  in  England  were  quietly  accepted,  only  to 
have  them  surge  over  her  in  the  frightful  flood  of  the  revo- 
lution, so  China  is  undergoing,  with  the  violence  always  in- 
separable from  resistance,  the  transition  which  Japan  wel- 
comed with  a  more  open  mind. 

Three  forces  were  at  work  on  this  conservatism  of  the 
Chinese,  and  beyond  question  the  combined  influence  of  those 
forces  was  the  real  cause  of  the  recent  uprising. 

THE  FIRST  FORCE  WAS  FOREIGN  COMMERCE. 

The  beginnings  of  China's  foreign  trade  date  back  to  the 
third  century,  though  it  was  not  until  comparatively  recent 
years  that  it  grew  to  large  proportions.  Now  the  leading 
seaports  of  China  have  many  great  business  houses  con- 
trolled by  Europeans  and  Americans.  The  most  persistent 
effort  is  made  to  extend  commerce  with  the  Chinese.  That 
the  effort  is  successful  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  total 
imports  and  exports  increased  from  217,183,960  taels  in  1888 
to  366,329,983  taels  in  1897,  while  it  is  probable  that  the  fol- 
lowing years  show  an  even  more  rapid  growth. 

Our  share  was  larger  than  one^  might  suppose  from  the 
reports  issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  in  Washington,  as 
no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  trade  goes  to  China  by  way  of 


13 

England  and  Hongkong  and  is  credited  to  the  British  total 
instead  of  to  ours.  It  will,  however,  serve  the  purpose  of 
illustration  to  note  that  from  1898  to  1900  our  exports  of 
flour  to  China  increased  from  $89,305  to  $218,645,  with  the 
market  growing  so  rapidly  that  the  wheat  producers  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  are  looking  to  China  for  their  chief  market. 
Within  the  same  period  our  exports  of  oil  increased  from 
$2,865,095  to  $3,500,000,  and  I  found  the  cans  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  in  the  remotest  villages  of  Shantung.  We  sell 
more  cotton  to  China  than  to  all  the  rest  of  the  world  com- 
bined, our  exports  within  the  two  years  noted  having  grown 
from  $5,195,845  to  $9,844,565,  and  already  we  are  so  de- 
pendent upon  the  Chinese  market  that  the  cotton  growers  of 
the  South  are  alarmed  by  the  present  interference  with  their 
trade.  As  for  locomotives,  we  sent  to  China  in  the  single 
year  1899  engines  to  the  value  of  $722,212.  Our  direct  trade 
with  China  in  that  year  aggregated  $33,000,000,  which  was 
an  increase  of  100  per  cent,  in  ten  years,  and  if  we  add 
$10,000,000  as  a  fair  estimate  of  our  trade  via  Hongkong,  we 
find  that  we  are  the  third  nation  in  trade  relations  with  China, 
England  and  Japan  being  first  and  second  respectively. 

Of  course,  trade  means  traders,  and  the  pioneers  were,  as 
a  rule,  pirates  and  adventurers,  who  cheated  and  abused  the 
Chinese  most  flagrantly.  Gorst  says  that  "rapine,  murder 
and  a  constant  appeal  to  force  chiefly  characterized  the  com- 
mencement of  Europe's  commercial  intercourse  with  China." 
In  1839,  the  Chinese  officials  destroyed  22,299  chests  of 
English  opium,  from  motives  about  as  laudable  as  those 
which  led  our  revolutionary  sires  to  empty  English  tea  into 
Boston  harbor.  England  responded  by  making  war,  the  re- 
sult of  which  was  to  force  the  drug  upon  an  unwilling  people, 
so  that  the  vice  which  is  to-day  doing  more  to  ruin  the 
Chinese  than  all  other  vices  combined  is  directly  tracable  to 
the  conduct  of  a  Christian  nation,  though  the  England  of  to- 
day is  presumably  ashamed  of  this  crime  of  the  England  of 
two  generations  ago. 

Now,  there  are  many  men  of  high  character  engaged  in 
business  in  the  great  cities  of  China.  I  would  not  speak  any 
disparaging  word  of  those  who  are  worthy  of  all  respect. 
But  I  am  not  reporting  the  utterances  of  missionaries,  but 
giving  the  consensus  of  opinion  expressed  to  me  by  reputable 
laymen  who  have  traveled  widely  in  the  East,  when  I  say  in 
the  words  of  another  that  "many  Americans  and  Europeans 
doing  business  in  Asia  are  living  the  life  of  the  prodigal  son 
who  has  not  yet  come  to  himself."  Profane,  intemperate, 
immoral,  not  living  among  the  Chinese  but  segregating 
themselves  in  foreign  communities  in  the  treaty  ports,  not 
speaking    the    Chinese    language,    frequently    beating    and 


14 

cursing  those  who  are  in  their  employ,  regarding  the  Chinese 
with  hatred  and  contempt,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  are  hated 
in  return  and  that  their  conduct  has  done  much  to  justify  the 
Chinese  distrust  of  the  foreigner. 

Most  of  the  criticisms  of  missionaries  which  find  their 
way  into  the  daily  papers  emanate  from  these  men.  The 
missionaries  do  not  gamble  or  drink  whisky,  nor  will  their 
wives  and  daughters  attend  or  reciprocate  entertainments  at 
which  wine,  cards  and  dancing  are  the  chief  features.  So, 
of  course,  the  missionaries  are  "canting  hypocrites,"  and 
are  believed  to  be  doing  no  good,  because  the  foreigner  who 
has  never  visited  a  Chinese  Christian  church,  school  or  hos- 
pital in  his  life,  does  not  see  the  evidences  of  missionary 
work  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  The  editor  of  the 
Japan  daily  Mail,  April  7,  1901,  justly  says:  "We  do  not 
suggest  that  these  newspapers  which  denounce  the  mission- 
aries so  vehemently  desire  to  be  unjust  or  have  any  suspicion 
that  they  are  unjust.  But  we  do  assert  that  they  have  mani- 
festly taken  on  the  color  of  that  section  of  every  Far  Eastern 
community  whose  units,  for  some  strange  reason,  entertain 
an  inveterate  prejudice  against  the  missionary  and  his  works. 

Were  it  possible  for  these  persons  to  give  an  intelligent 
explanation  of  the  dislike  with  which  the  missionary  inspires 
them,  their  opinions  would  command  more  respect.  But 
they  have  never  succeeded  in  making  any  logical  present- 
ment of  their  case,  and  no  choice  offers  except  to  regard 
them  as  the  victims  of  an  antipathy  which  has  no  basis  in 
reason  or  reflection.  That  a  man  should  be  anti-Christian 
and  should  devote  his  pen  to  propagating  his  views  is  strict- 
ly within  his  right,  and  we  must  not  be  understood  as  sug- 
gesting that  the  smallest  reproach  attaches  to  such  a  person. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  within  the  right  of  the  mission- 
ary to  protest  against  being  arraigned  before  judges  habitu- 
ally hostile  to  him,  and  it  is  within  the  right  of  the  public  to 
scrutinize  the  pronouncements  of  such  judges  with  much  sus- 
picion." 

Trade  also  means  steamers,  which  are  running  to-day  up 
the  great  rivers  of  China,  and  wherever  they  run,  the  Chinese 
junks  are  deprived  of  their  patronage,  bringing  beggary  to 
their  owners,  who  cannot  be  expected  to  feel  kindly  toward 
such  competition,  however  desirable  the  steamer  may  appear 
to  be  from  the  viewpoint  of  a  more  disinterested  observer. 

Trade  also  means  the  railroad.  The  first  railroad  in  China 
was  built  in  1876.  It  ran  from  Shanghai  to  Wu  Sung,  only 
nine  miles.  Great  was  the  excitement  of  the  populace,  and 
no  sooner  was  it  completed  than  the  government  bought  it, 
tore  up  the  road-bed  and  dumped  the  engines  into  the  river. 
That  ended  railway  building  for    twelve    years,    and    then, 


15 

largely  through  the  influence  of  Wu  Ting  Fang,  now  Chinese 
Minister  to  the  United  States,  a  little  line  was  built  from  the 
Kaiping  coal  mines  to  Taku.  Other  concessions  gradually 
and  grudgingly  followed,  until,  in  1899,  there  were  not  only 
566  miles  in  operation,  but  6,000  were  projected,  and  the 
engineers  were  surveying  rights  of  way  through  whole 
provinces. 

Of  course,  railroads  develop  the  resources  of  the  country. 
We  have  had  an  illustration  of  this  in  our  own  land,  where 
the  transcontinental  railroads  resulted  in  the  amazing  devel- 
opment of  our  Western  plains  and  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  The 
effect  of  such  a  development  in  China  can  hardly  be  overes- 
timated. Think  of  the  influence  not  only  upon  the  Chinese 
but  the  whole  world,  when  railroads  not  only  carry  the  corn 
of  Hunan  to  the  famine  sufferers  in  Shantung,  but  when  they 
can  bring  the  coal,  iron  and  other  products  of  Chinese  soil 
and  industry  within  reach  of  steamship  lines  running  to 
Europe  and  America. 

But  it  is  more  to  our  present  purpose  to  remember  that 
extension  of  these  lines  of  communication  greatly  irritated 
the  Chinese.  Mob  violence  attended  the  introduction  of 
labor-saving  machinery  in  both  England  and  the  United 
States.  We  need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  that  it  has 
made  trouble  in  China.  Millions  of  coolies  earn  a  living  by 
carrying  merchandise  in  baskets  or  wheeling  it  in  barrows  at 
five  cents  a  day.  A  single  railroad  train  does  the  work  of  a 
thousand  coolies,  and  thus  deprives  them  of  their  means  of 
support.  Myriads  of  farmers  grew  the  beans  and  peanuts 
out  of  which  illuminating  oil  was  made.  But  since  American 
kerosene  was  introduced  in  1864,  its  use  has  become  well- 
nigh  universal,  and  the  families  who  depended  upon  the  bean- 
oil  and  peanut-oil  market  are  starving.  Cotton  clothing  is 
generally  worn  in  China,  except  by  the  better  classes,  and 
China  formerly  made  her  own  cotton  cloth.  Now  American 
manufacturers  can  sell  cotton  in  China  cheaper  than  the 
Chinese  can  make  it  themselves. 

All  this  is,  of  course,  inevitable.  It  is  indeed  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  people  of  China  themselves,  but  it  enables  us 
to  understand  why  so  many  of  the  Chinese  resent  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  goods.  That  much  of  this  business  is 
passing  into  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  themselves  does  not 
help  the  matter,  for  the  people  know  that  the  goods  are  for- 
eign, and  that  the  foreigners  are  responsible  for  their  intro- 
duction. Moreover,  the  Chinese,  while  not  very  religious, 
are  very  superstitious.  They  people  the  earth  and  air  with 
spirits,  who,  in  their  judgment,  have  baleful  power  over  man. 
Before  these  spirits  they  tremble  in  terror,  and  no  inconsid- 
erable part  of  their  time  and  labor  is  devoted   to   outwitting 


i6 

them,  for  the  Chinese  do  not  worship  the  spirits,  except  to 
propitiate  and  deceive  them.  They  believe  that  the  spirits 
cannot  turn  a  corner,  but  must  move  in  a  straight  line.  Ac- 
cordingly, in  China  you  do  not  often  find  one  window  oppo- 
site another  window,  lest  the  spirits  may  pass  through.  You 
will  seldom  find  a  straight  road  from  one  village  to  another 
village,  but  only  a  distractingly  circuitous  path,  while  the 
roads  are  not  only  crooked,  but  so  atrociously  bad  that  it  is 
difficult  for  the  foreign  traveler  to  keep  his  temper.  The 
Chinese  do  not  count  their  own  inconvenience  if  they  can  only 
baffle  their  demoniac  foes. 

When  the  Chinese  die,  their  bodies  are  not  segregated  in 
cemeteries  as  with  us,  but  geomancers  are  called  in  to  find 
lucky  places  for  burial,  which  may  be  by  the  roadside  or  in 
the  garden  or  the  field  ;  and  as  33,000  Chinese  die  every  day, 
all  China  is  dotted  with  graves.  The  Chinese  worship  their 
ancesters  and  venerate  the  tombs  in  which  they  lie.  From  a 
Chinese  viewpoint  is  it  an  awful  thing  to  desecrate  them. 
Imagine,  then,  their  feelings  when  they  see  haughty  foreign- 
ers run  a  railroad  straight  as  an  arrow  from  city  to  city, 
opening  a  highway  over  which  the  dreaded  spirits  may  run, 
and  ruthlessly  tearing  through  the  tombs  hallowed  by  the 
most  sacred  of  associations.  No  degree  of  care  can  avoid 
the  irritations  caused  by  railway  construction.  In  building 
the  line  from  Tsingtau  to  Kiaochow,  a  distance  of  forty-six 
miles,  the  Germans,  as  far  as  practicable,  ran  around  the 
places  most  thickly  covered  with  graves.  But  in  spite  of 
this,  no  less  than  3,000  graves  had  to  be  removed.  It  was 
impossible  to  settle  with  the  individual  owners,  as  it  was 
difficult  in  many  cases  to  ascertain  who  they  were,  most  of 
the  graves  being  unmarked,  and  some  of  the  families  con- 
cerned having  died  out  or  moved  away.  Moreover  the 
Oriental  has  no  idea  of  time,  and  dearly  loves  to  haggle, 
especially  with  a  foreigner  whom  he  feels  no  compunction 
in  swindling.  So  the  railway  company  made  its  negotiations 
with  the  local  magistrates,  showing  them  the  routes,  indicat- 
ing the  graves  which  were  in  the  way,  and  paying  them  an 
average  of  $3  (Mexican)  for  removing  each  grave,  they  to 
find  and  settle  with  the  owners.  This  was  believed  to  be 
fair,  for  $3  is  a  large  sum  in  the  interior,  where  the  only  coin 
in  common  circulation  is  the  copper  cash,  so  small  in  value 
that  1,600  equal  a  dollar,  and  where  a  few  dozen  cash  will 
buy  a  day's  food  for  an  adult.  But  while  some  of  the 
Chinese  were  glad  to  accept  this  arrangement,  others  were 
not.  They  wanted  more,  or  they  had  special  affection  for 
the  dead,  or  that  particular  spot  had  been  carefully  selected 
because  it  was  favored  by  the  spirits.  Besides,  the  magis- 
trates doubtless  kept  a  part   of   the    price    as    their    share. 


17 

Chinese  officials  are  underpaid,  are  expected  to  "  squeeze  " 
commissions,  and  no  funds  can  pass  through  their  hands 
without  a  percentage  of  loss.  Then,  as  the  Asiatic  is  very 
deliberate,  the  company  was  obliged  to  specify  a  date  by 
which  all  designated  graves  must  be  removed.  As  many  of 
the  bodies  were  not  taken  up  within  that  time,  the  company 
had  to  remove  them. 

In  these  circumstances,  we  should  not  be  surprised  that 
the  most  furiously  anti-foreign  feeling  in  Shantung  was  in 
the  villages  along  the  line  of  that  railroad.  Why  should  the 
hated  foreigner  force  his  line  through  their  country  when  the 
people  did  not  want  it  ?  Of  course,  it  would  save  time,  but, 
as  a  Peking  official  naively  said,  "  We  are  not  in  a  hurry." 
So  the  villagers  watched  the  construction  with  ill-concealed 
anger,  and  today  that  railroad,  as  well  as  all  the  other  rail- 
roads in  North  China,  can  only  be  kept  open  by  detachments 
of  foreign  soldiers  at  all  the  important  stations.  I  saw  them 
at  almost  every  stop — German  soldiers  from  Tsingtau  to 
Kiaochow,  British  from  Tongku  to  Peking,  French  from 
Peking  to  Paotingfu. 

Those  who  protest  that  we  ought  not  to  force  our  relig- 
ion upon  the  Chinese,  do  not  appear  to  think  that  there  is 
anything  objectionable  in  forcing  our  trade  upon  them.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  Chinese  do  not  strenuously  object  to 
the  missionaries  as  missionaries.  The  average  missionary, 
especially  in  the  interior  stations,  dons  Chinese  clothing, 
shaves  his  head,  wears  a  queue,  speaks  the  Chinese  language, 
lives  among  the  people,  tries  to  get  into  sympathy  with 
them,  teaches  the  young,  heals  the  sick,  distributes  relief  in 
time  of  famine,  preaches  the  gospel  of  peace  and  good-will, 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  unprejudiced  judges,  is  a  pure,  sensible, 
and  useful  man.  Confucianism  is  virtually  an  agnostic  code 
of  morals  with  Chinese  variations,  and  the  worst  foe  which 
the  missionary  has  to  encounter  is  not  hostility,  but  indiffer- 
ence. Wu  Ting  Fang,  Chinese  Minister  to  the  United  States, 
frankly  declares  that  "Confucianism  is  not  a  religion  in  the 
practical  sense  of  the  word,"  and  that  "Confucius  would  be 
called  an  agnostic  in  these  days."  It  is  the  foreign  idea 
that  the  Chinese  dislikes  the  interference  with  his  cherished 
customs  and  traditions.  A  railroad  alarms  and  angers  him 
more  than  half  a  hundred  missionaries.  A  plowshare  cuts 
through  more  of  his  superstitions  than  a  mission  school.  He 
does  not  want  the  implements  of  our  Western  civilization, 
and  he  resents  the  attempt  to  push  them  upon  him. 

But  trade  cannot  be  checked.  It  advances  by  an  inherent 
energy  which  it  is  futile  to  ignore.  And  it  ought  to  advance. 
For  trade  means  much  that  is  of  value  to  a  people.  A  loco- 
motive brings  both  intellectual  and  physical  benefits,  the  ap- 


i8 

pliances  which  mitigate  the  poverty  and  barrenness  of  exist- 
ence, and  increase  the  ability  to  provide  for  the  necessities 
of  life.  The  regret  is  that  such  benefits  are  so  far  neutral- 
ized by  the  evils  which  disgrace  civilization  and  which  em- 
bitter the  Chinese  against  us. 

THE  SECOND  FORCE  WAS  EUROPEAN  POLITICS. 

The  history  of  the  dealings  of  the  Christian  powers  with 
China  is  not  altogether  pleasant  reading.  It  must  be  admit- 
ted that  the  provocation  has  sometimes  been  great,  but  the 
retaliation  has  been  heavy.  We  sometimes  imagine  that  the 
Golden  Rule  is  peculiar  to  Christianity,  forgetting  that  its 
spirit  was  recognized  by  Confucius  five  centuries  before 
Christ.  This  form  was  negative,  but  it  familiarized  the 
Chinese  wath  the  principle.  They  were  not,  therefore,  pleas- 
antly impressed  when  they  found  the  alleged  Christian  na- 
tions violating  that  principle.  Even  Christian  America  has 
been  no  exception.  We  have  Chinese  exclusion  laws,  but 
we  will  not  allow  China  to  exclude  Americans.  We  sail  our 
gunboats  up  her  rivers,  but  we  would  not  allow  her  to  sail 
gunboats  into  ours.  If  a  Chinese  commits  a  crime  in  Amer- 
ica he  is  amenable  to  American  law  as  interpreted  by  an 
American  court.  But  if  an  American  commits  a  crime  in 
China  he  can  be  tried  only  by  his  consul ;  not  a  Chinese 
court  in  the  empire  has  jurisdiction  over  him,  and  the  people 
naturally  understand  from  this  that  we  have  no  confidence  in 
their  sense  of  justice  or  in  their  administration  of  it.  This 
law  of  extra-territoriality  is  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  irri- 
tation against  foreigners,  for  it  not  only  implies  contempt, 
but  it  makes  foreigners  a  privileged  class.  When  we  take 
into  consideration  the  further  fact  that  the  typical  Anglo- 
Saxon  the  world  over  acts  as  if  he  were  a  lord  of  creation, 
and  treats  Asiatics  with  more  or  less  condescension,  as  if 
they  were  his  inferiors,  we  can  understand  the  very  natural 
resentment  of  the  Chinese,  who  have  just  as  much  pride  of 
race  as  we  have,  and  who,  indeed,  consider  themselves  the 
most  highly  civilized  people  in  the  world.  The  fact  that  for- 
eign nations  are  able  to  thrash  them  does  not  convince  the 
Chinese  that  those  nations  are  superior,  any  more  than  a 
gentleman's  physical  defeat  at  the  hands  of  a  pugilist  would 
satisfy  him  that  the  pugilist  is  a  better  man.  Then  the 
Chinese  know  of  the  abuses  to  which  their  countrymen  have 
been  subjected  in  other  lands,  how  almost  universally  the 
Chinese  in  America,  for  example,  are  despised  and  hated. 
Many  Chinese  have  suffered  from  mob  violence  in  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Tacoma  and  other  Pacific  Coast  cities  as  sorely  as 
our  countrymen  have  suffered  from  mob  violence  in  China. 


19 

Some  years  ago  they  were  wantonly  butchered '  in  Rock 
Springs,  Wyoming,  and  it  was  as  difficult  for  the  Chinese  to 
get  indemnity  out  of  our  Government  as  it  is  for  the  Powers 
to  get  indemnity  out  of  China  for  the  Boxer  outrages.  The 
Chicago  Inter-Ocean  printed  a  cartoon  representing  a  Chinese 
reading  a  daily  paper,  one  of  whose  columns  was  headed, 
"Massacre  of  Americans  in  China,"  while  the  other  column 
bore  the  headlines,  "Massacre  of  Chinese  in  America." 
Uncle  Sam  stands  at  his  elbow  and  ejaculates,  "  Horrible, 
isn't  it  ?  "     To  which  the  celestial  blandly  inquires,  "  Which?" 

But  the  political  aggressions  of  foreign  powers  were 
probably  the  immediate  cause  of  the  recent  trouble.  A 
hundred  years  ago  France  began  to  regard  Anam  as  within 
her  sphere  of  influence.  In  1858,  she  seized  Saigon,  and 
from  it  as  a  base  began  to  extend  her  influence  throughout 
Cochin  China.  In  1882,  she  cooly  decided  to  annex  Tonking. 
The  Chinese  objected,  but  the  war  ended  in  a  treaty,  signed 
June  9,  1885,  which  gave  France  the  coveted  territory. 

In  1886  England  took  Upper  Burma,  which  China  regard- 
ed as  one  of  her  dependencies.  As  far  back  as  1841  she  had 
taken  Hongkong.  In  1871  she  wrested  from  China  the 
Kowloon  coast  line  on  the  mainland,  but  in  1898,  finding  that 
Hongkong  was  still  within  the  range  of  modern  cannon  in 
Chinese  waters  seven  miles  away,  England  calmly  took  400 
square  miles  of  additional  territory,  including  Mirs  and  Deep 
Bays. 

Not  content  with  these  aggressions,  the  press  of  both 
Europe  and  America  has,  for  several  years,  boldly  discussed 
the  dismemberment  of  China  as  certain  to  come,  and  journal- 
ists and  magazine  writers  have  disputed  as  to  which  should 
possess  the  richest  parts  of  the  empire,  whose  impotence  to 
defend  itself  was  taken  for  granted.  Chinese  ministers  in 
Europe  and  America  reported  these  discussions  to  their  su- 
periors in  Peking.  The  English  papers  ifi  China  republished 
some  of  the  articles  and  added  many  virulent  ones  of  their 
own,  so  that  speedily  all  the  better-informed  Chinese  came 
to  know  that  the  foreigners  regarded  China  much  as  vultures 
regard  a  carcass. 

Nor  was  all  this  talk  empty  boasting.  China  saw  that 
England  and  France  were  absorbing  Siam,  that  Britain  was 
already  lord  of  India  and  Egypt,  that  Germany  was  pressing 
her  claims  in  Turkey,  that  Russia  was  obtaining  control  of 
Persia  and  Korea,  that  Italy  had  tried  to  take  Abyssinia  and 
that,  with  the  single  exception  of  Morocco,  all  the  remainder 
of  the  entire  continent  of  Africa  had  been  partitioned  by  the 
European  powers. 

And  soon  the  Chinese  saw  the  foreigners  descend  upon 
their  own  shores  in  such  ways  as  to  justify  the  fear  that  the 


Celestial  Empire,  too,  would  be  speedily  reduced  to  vas- 
salage. December  1,  1897,  two  German  Roman  Catholic 
priests  were  murdered  in  the  province  of  Shantung,  and  on 
the  14th  of  that  month  Admiral  Diedrich  landed  marines  at 
Kiaochow  Bay.  Early  in  the  following  year  Germany,  under 
the  forms  of  an  enforced  99-year  lease,  took  the  territory 
bordering  on  the  bay,  and  at  Tsingtau  began  to  demolish  the 
native  houses,  build  docks,  erect  buildings,  open  streets,  lay 
sewers,  project  railways  and  telegraph  lines  into  the  interior 
and  to  push  her  interests  so  aggressively  and  ruthlessly  that 
the  whole  province  of  Shantung  was  thrown  into  the  most 
intense  excitement. 

March  8,  1898,  Russia  demanded,  and  May  27th  obtained, 
similar  rights  on  the  peninsula  terminating  in  Port  Arthur, 
including  Ta  Lien  Wan  and  800  square  miles  of  adjoining 
territory.  Grim  significance  was  given  to  Russia's  plans  by 
the  prompt  appearance  of  20,000  Russian  soldiers  and  90,000 
coolies,  who  were  set  to  work  developing  a  great  modern 
fortification  under  the  very  eyes,  as  it  were,  of  the  Chinese 
capital.  April  2,  England  secured  the  lease  of  Lin  Kung, 
with  all  the  islands  and  a  strip  ten  miles  wide  on  the  main- 
land, thus  giving  the  British  a  strong  post  at  Wei  Hai  Wei. 
April  22nd,  France  peremptorily  demanded,  and  May  2d  ob- 
tained, the  bay  of  Kwang  Chou  Wan,  while  Japan  found  her 
share  in  a  concession  for  Fu  Chou,  Wu  Sung,  Fan  Ning,  Yo 
Chou  and  Chung  Wan  Tao.  Ere  long,  in  all  China's  3,000 
miles  of  coast  line,  there  was  not  a  harbor  in  which  she 
could  mobilize  her  own  ships  without  the  consent  of  the 
hated  foreigner.  The  New  York  Siin,  noting  these  facts, 
truly  says  :  "  It  was  while  Chinese  territory  was  thus  virtu- 
ally being  given  away  that  the  people  became  uneasy  and 
riots  were  started  ;  the  people  felt  that  their  land  had  been 
despoiled." 

And  shall  we  pretend  any  innocent  wonder  ?  Suppose 
that  after  the  murder  of  the  Chinese  in  Rock  Springs, 
Wyoming,  a  Chinese  fleet  had  been  able  to  seize  New  York  and 
Boston  harbors,  and  suppose  our  Government  had  been  weak 
enough  to  acquiesce.  Would  the  people  of  this  country  have 
made  any  protest  ?  Would  the  lives  of  Chinese  on  our 
streets  have  been  safe  ?  And  was  it  an  entirely  base  impulse 
that  led  the  Chinese  to  violently  oppose  the  forcible  seizure 
of  their  country  by  aliens  ?  The  Empress  Dowager  said  in 
her  now  famous  edict:  "  The  various  powers  cast  upon  us 
looks  of  tiger-like  voracity,  hustling  each  other  in  their  en- 
deavors to  be  the  first  to  seize  upon  our  innermost  territories. 
They  think  that  China,  having  neither  money  nor  troops, 
would  never  venture  to  go  to  war  with  them.  They  fail  to 
understand,  however,  that  there  are  certain  things  which  this 


21 

empire  can  never  consent  to,  and  that,  if  hard  pressed,  we 
have  no  alternative  but  to  rely  upon  the  justice  of  our  cause, 
the  knowledge  of  which  in  our  breasts  strengthens  our  re- 
solves and  steels  us  to  present  a  united  front  against  our 
aggressors."  That  would  probably  be  called  patriotic  if  it 
had  emanated  from  the  ruler  of  any  other  people. 

THE  THIRD  FORCE  WAS  CHRISTIANITY. 

In  his  life  of  Morrison,  Townsend  reminds  us  that  the 
Church  early  realized  that  it  could  not  ignore  so  vast  a 
nation,  while  its  very  exclusiveness  attracted  bold  spirits. 
As  far  back  as  the  sixth  century  the  Nestorian  Christians 
established  missions  in  China.  A  monument  in  Hsi  An  Fu 
on  which  is  inscribed  an  outline  of  the  Nestorian  effort  from 
the  year  630-781  is  the  only  trace  that  remains  of  what  must 
have  been  an  interesting  and  perhaps  a  thrilling  missionary 
effort.  However  zealous  the  Nestorians  may  have  been  for 
a  time,  it  is  evident  that  they  were  finally  submerged  in  the 
sea  of  Chinese  superstition. 

The  Roman  Catholic  effort  began  in  1293,  when  John  de 
Corvino  succeeded  in  reaching  Peking.  Though  he  was 
elevated  to  an  Archbishopric  and  reinforced  by  several 
priests,  this  effort,  too,  proved  a  failure  and  was  abandoned. 

Two  and  a  half  centuries  of  silence  followed,  and  then  in 
1552  Francis  Xavier  set  his  face  toward  China,  only  to  be 
prostrated  by  fever  on  the  Islands  Sancian.  Realizing  that 
he  would  never  be  able  to  set  his  foot  on  that  mighty  and 
still  impenetrable  land,  he  despairingly  moaned  :  "  Oh,  rock, 
rock,  when  wilt  thou  open  !  "  and  gave  up  the  ghost. 

But  in  1581  another  Jesuit,  this  time  the  learned  and 
astute  Matteo  Ricci,  entered  Canton  in  the  guise  of  a 
Buddhist  priest.  He  managed  to  remain,  and  twenty  years 
later  he  went  to  Peking  in  the  dress  of  a  literary  gentleman. 
In  him  Roman  Catholicism  gained  a  permanent  foothold  in 
China,  and  although  it  was  often  fiercely  persecuted  and  re- 
duced at  times  to  feebleness,  it  never  became  wholly  extinct. 
Now  it  has  nearly  600  foreign  missionaries  in  China,  and  en- 
rolls 532,448  native  Christians. 

It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  Protestantism  that  it  was 
centuries  behind  the  Roman  Church  in  the  attempt  to  Christ- 
ianize China.  It  was  not  till  1807  that  the  first  Protestant 
missionary  sought  China.  January  31st  of  that  year  the 
Rev.  Robert  Morrison,  then  a  youth  of  twenty-five,  sailed 
alone  from  London,  under  appointment  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  (Congregational).  As  the  hostile  East 
India  Company  would  not  allow  a  missionary  on  any  of  its 
ships,  Morrison  had  to  go  to  New  York  in  order  to  secure 


22 

passage  on  an  American  vessel.  As  he  paid  his  fare  in  the 
New  York  ship  owner's  office,  the  merchant  said  with  a 
sneer:  "And  so,  Mr.  Morrison,  you  really  expect  that  you 
will  make  an  impression  on  the  idolatry  of  the  great  Chinese 
Empire?"  "No,  sir,"  replied  Morrison,  "I  expect  God 
will."  The  ship  Trident  left  New  York  about  May  15th  and 
did  not  reach  Canton  till  September  8th.  For  two  years  he 
had  to  live  and  study  at  Canton  and  at  the  Portugese  settle- 
ment of  Macao  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  lest  he  might  be 
forced  to  leave.  For  a  time  he  never  walked  the  streets  by 
daylight  for  fear  of  attracting  attention,  but  exercised  by 
night,  and  all  the  time  finding  his  Chinese  language  teachers 
insolent  and  impatient,  till  February  20, 1809,  the  date  of  his 
marriage  to  Miss  Morton,  when  his  employment  as  translator 
by  the  East  India  Company  gave  him  for  the  first  time  a 
secure  residence,  though  even  then  he  was  forced  to  secrecy 
in  his  missionary  work,  presenting  Christianity  behind 
locked  doors  to  the  few  Chinese  whom  he  dared  to  approach. 
In  these  circumstances,  he  naturally  gave  his  energies  largely 
to  language  study  and  translation,  and  in  1810  he  had  the 
joy  of  issuing  a  thousand  copies  of  a  Chinese  version  of  the 
Book  of  Acts,  the  first  fruits  of  the  coming  harvest. 

But  the  door  was  not  yet  open,  and  the  work  was  done 
against  many  obstacles,  and  chiefly  in  seci^eFllTT'the  treaty  of 
Nanking,  in  1842,  opened  the  five  ports  of  Amoy,  Canton, 
Foochow,  Ningpo  and  Shanghai.  Missionaries  who  had 
been  waiting  and  watching  and  praying  in  the  neighboring 
islands  promptly  entered  these  cities.  Eagerly  they  looked 
to  the  great  populations  in  the  interior,  but  they  were  practi- 
cally confined  to  the  ports  named  till  1860,  w^hen  the  treaty 
of  Tientsin  opened  other  cities  and  officially  conceded  the 
rights  of  missionary  residence  and  labor.  At  that  time  there 
were  only  1,300  converts  in  all  China,  but  the  number  speed- 
ily grew,  till,  at  the  time  of  the  Boxer  outbreak,  there  were 
100,000  communicants,  3,500,000  adherents,  2,500  stations  and 
outstations,  6,697  missionaries  and  helpers,  1,551  schools,  23 
mission  presses  with  an  annual  output  of  107,149,738  pages, 
32  mission  periodicals,  124  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  treat- 
ing in  a  single  year  1,700,452  patients;  while  the  asylums 
for  the  orphaned  and  blind  and  deaf  number  32. 

It  is  significant  that  our  Presbyterian  work  in  China  was 
started  the  very  year  that  the  Board  was  organized.  In  1837, 
the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  which  had  been 
founded  by  the  vSynod  of  Pittsburg  in  1831,  was  merged  into 
our  present  Board,  and  October  31st  of  that  year,  the  Revs. 
R.  W.  Orr  and  T.  R.  Mitchell  were  commissioned  for  China, 
though  they  got  no  further  than  Singapore.  In  1840,  the 
Rev.  Walter  M.  Lowrie  and  James  C.  Hepburn,  M.  D.,  were 


23 

commissioned,  and  in  1843  they  transferred  the  mission  to 
Amoy,  China,  where  they  were  soon  reinforced  by  D.  B.  Mc 
Cartee,  M.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Cole. 

From  that  time  the  work  was  enlarged  as  steadily  as  cir- 
cumstances permitted,  until,  at  the  uprising  of  the  Boxers, 
we  had  in  the  empire  7  missions,  22  principal  stations,  309 
outstations,  209  foreign  missionaries,  including  those  under 
appointment ;  594  native  helpers,  92  organized  churches,  with 
11,214  communicants ;  217  schools  and  colleges,  2  printing 
presses,  one  of  which,  that  at  Shanghai,  is  the  largest  mis- 
sion press  in  the  world,  employing  135  workmen,  and  issuing 
last  year  67,625,660  pages  of  religious  matter;  and  16  hospi- 
tals and  13  dispensaries,  which,  together,  treated  last  year 
143,491  patients.  The  maintenance  of  this  extensive  work 
requires  an  annual  expenditure  of  about  $200,000.  The 
property  interests  involved  were  very  large,  and  included 
churches,  chapels,  school,  college,  hospital  and  press  build- 
ings, residences  of  missionaries,  etc.  Of  our  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries to  China,  Mr.  Lowrie  was  murdered  by  pirates  in 
1847;  Dr.  Mc  Cartee,  after  many  years  of  labor,  first  in  China 
and  afterwards  in  Japan,  died  in  San  Francisco,  July  17,  1900, 
at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty,  while  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hepburn  are 
still  living. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  work  of  all  the  Christian 
missions  in  China  was  being  conducted  upon  a  large  scale. 
It  would  be  diiTficult  to  overestimate  the  silent  and  yet  mighty 
energy  represented  by  such  work,  steadily  continued  through 
a  long  series  of  years,  and  representing  the  life  labor  of  de- 
voted men  and  women,  and  an  annual  expenditure  of  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 

True,  the  number  of  Christians  was  small  in  comparison 
with  the  population  of  the  empire,  but  the  Gospel  has  been 
aptly  compared  to  a  seed,  and  the  seed  has  indestructible 
vitality  and  irresistible  transforming  power.  It  is  small,  but 
seeds  generally  are.  Lodged  in  a  crevice  of  a  rock  a  seed 
will  send  its  spread-like  roots  into  fissures  so  tiny  that  they 
are  hardly  noticeable.  Yet  in  time  they  will  rend  the  rock 
asunder  and  firmly  hold  a  stately  tree.  Now  the  seed  of  the 
Gospel  has  been  fairly  lodged  in  the  Chinese  empire.  It  has 
taken  root,  and  a  part  of  the  commotion  which  we  have  re- 
cently witnessed  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  influence  of  that 
growth.  It  was  not  without  reason  that  the  Gospel  was 
spoken  of  as  a  force  that  "  turned  the  world  upside  down," 
since  it  is  one  of  the  avowed  objects  of  the  Gospel  to  recon- 
struct human  society.  It  is  significant  that  the  word  trans- 
lated "power"  in  Romans  i.  16 — "  The  Gospel  is  the  power 
of  God,"  is  in  the  Greek  the  word  which  we  have  anglicized 
in  common  speech  by  the  word  dynamite.     We  might,  there- 


24 

fore,  literally  translate  Paul's  statement :  "The  Gospel  is  the 
dynamite  of  God."  That  dynamite  was  long  ago  placed 
under  the  crust  of  China's  conservatism,  and  that  which  we 
are  now  witnessing  is  in  part  the  shattering  effect  of  the 
mighty  explosion. 

THE  REFORM  PARTY. 

The  combined  result  of  all  three  of  these  forces  was  the 
development  of  a  Reform  Party  among  the  Chinese  them- 
selves. It  was  not  large,  but  it  included  some  influential 
men,  though,  unfortunately,  their  zeal  was  not  tempered  by 
discretion.  The  war  with  Japan  powerfully  aided  them. 
True,  many  of  the  Chinese  do  not  yet  know  that  there  was 
such  a  war,  for  news  travels  slowly  in  a  land  without  railway, 
telegraphic  and  post-office  facilities,  and  whose  average  in- 
habitant has  never  been  twenty  miles  from  the  village  in 
which  he  was  born.  But  some  who  did  know  realized  that 
Japan  had  won  by  the  aid  of  Western  methods.  An  eager- 
ness to  acquire  those  methods  resulted.  Missionaries  were 
besieged  by  Chinese  who  wished  to  learn  English.  Modern 
books  were  given  a  wide  circulation.  The  Emperor  bought 
a  Bible.  In  his  private  apartments  in  Peking,  I  saw  scientific 
works,  maps,  globes  and  wind  and  current  charts.  Several 
of  his  influential  advisers  became  students  of  Occidental 
science  and  political  economy.  In  five  years,  1893-1898,  the 
book  sales  of  one  society — that  for  the  Diffusion  of  Christian 
and  General  Knowledge  Among  the  Chinese — leaped  from 
$817  to  $18,457,  while  every  mission  press  was  run  to  its  ut- 
most capacity  to  supply  the  new  demands. 

A  powerful  exponent  of  the  new  ideas  appeared  in  the 
Great  Viceroy,  Chang  Chih-Tung.  He  wrote  a  book  ridicul- 
ing the  conservatives,  exposing  the  causes  of  China's  weak- 
ness and  advocating  radical  reforms.  The  book  was  printed 
by  the  Tsung  Li  Yamen,  and  by  royal  command  copies  were 
sent  to  the  high  officials  of  the  Empire.  Big  yellow  posters 
advertised  it  from  the  walls  of  leading  cities,  and  in  a  short 
time  a  million  copies  were  sold.  An  English  translation  is 
now  on  sale  under  the  title  "  China's  Only  Hope."  He 
who  would  understand  the  present  situation  should  read  that 
book,  written,  not  by  a  foreigner  or  by  a  Christian,  or  even 
by  a  malcontent,  but  by  a  Chinese  Confucian  dignitary,  in 
the  Chinese  language  and  for  the  Chinese  people.  It  is  hard- 
ly an  exaggeration  to  say  that  "this  book  made  more  history 
in  a  shorter  time  than  any  other  modern  piece  of  literature, 
that  it  astonished  a  kingdom,  convulsed  an  empire  and  brought 
on  a  war." 

The  Reform  Party  urged  the  young  Emperor  to  use  the 


25 

imperial  power  for  the  advancement  of  his  people.  He 
yielded  to  the  pressure,  became  an  eager  and  diligent  student 
of  the  Western  learning  and  methods,  and  with  the  ardor  of 
a  new  convert  issued  the  now  famous  reform  edicts,  which, 
if  they  could  have  been  sucfcessfully  carried  into  effect,  would 
have  revolutionized  China  and  started  her  on  the  high  road 
to  national  greatness.  These  memorable  decrees  have  been 
summarized  as  follows : 

1.  Establishing  a  university  at  Peking. 

2.  Sending  imperial  clansmen  to  study  European  and 
American  governments. 

3.  Encouraging  art,  science  and  modern  agriculture. 

4.  Expressing  the  willingness  of  the  Emperor  to  hear  the 
objections  of  the  conservatives  to  progress  and  reform. 

5.  Abolishing  the  literary  essay  as  a  prominent  part  of 
the  government  examinations. 

6.  Censuring  those  who  attempted  to  delay  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Peking  Imperial  University. 

7.  Directing  that  the  construction  of  the  Lu  Han  railway 
be  carried  on  with  more  vigor. 

8.  Advising  the  adoption  of  Western  arms  and  drill  for 
all  the  Tartar  troops. 

9.  Ordering  the  establishment  of  agricultural  schools  in 
the  provinces  to  teach  improved  methods  of  agriculture. 

10.  Ordering  the  introduction  of  patent  and  copyright  laws. 

11.  Ordering  the  Board  of  War  and  the  Foreign  Oflfice  to 
report  on  the  reform  of  the  military  examinations. 

12.  Offering  special  rewards  to  inventors  and  authors. 

13.  Ordering  officials  to  encourage  trade  and  assist  mer- 
chants. 

14.  Ordering  the  foundation  of  school  boards  in  every 
city  in  the  empire. 

15.  Establishing  a  Bureau  of  Mines  and  Railroads. 

16.  Encouraging  journalists  to  write  on  all  political  sub- 
jects. 

17.  Establishing  naval  academies  and  training  ships. 

18.  Summoning  the  ministers  and  provincial  authorities 
to  assist  the  Emperor  in  his  work  of  reform. 

19.  Directing  that  schools  be  founded  in  connection  with 
all  the  Chinese  legations  in  foreign  countries  for  the  benefit 
of  the  children  of  Chinese  in  those  countries. 

20.  Establishing  commercial  bureaus  in  Shanghai  for  the 
encouragement  of  trade. 

21.  Abolishing  six  useless  Boards  in  Peking. 

22.  Granting  the  right  to  memorialize  the  Throne  by 
sealed  memorials. 

23.  Dismissing  two  presidents  and  four  vice-presidents  of 


26* 

the  Board  of  Rites  for  disobeying  the  Emperor's  orders  that 
memorials  should  be  presented  to  him  unopened. 

24.  Abolishing  the  governorships  of  Hupeh,  Kuangtung 
and  Yunnan  as  a  useless  expense  to  the  country. 

25.  Establishing  schools  for  instruction  in  the  preparation 
of  tea  and  silk. 

26.  Abolishing  the  slow  courier  posts  in  favor  of  the  Im- 
perial Customs  Post. 

27.  Approving  a  system  of  budgets  as  in  Western  countries. 
But,  alas,  "  You  must  not  try  to  hustle  the  East."     The 

Chinese  are  phlegmatic  and  will  endure  much,  but  this  was 
a  little  too  much.  Myriads  of  scholars  and  officials  who  saw 
their  hopes  and  positions  jeopardized  by  the  new  tests,  pro- 
tested with  all  the  virulence  of  the  silversmiths  of  Ephesus, 
and  all  the  conservatism  of  China  rallied  to  their  support. 

FLOOD  AND  FAMINE. 

Meantime,  the  Yellow  River,  aptly  named  "  China's  Sor- 
row," again  overflowed  its  banks,  devastating  a  region  100 
miles  long  and  varying  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  miles  wide. 
Three  hundred  villages  were  swept  away,  and  1,000,000 
people  made  homeless.  Famine  and  pestilence  speedily  fol- 
lowed, so  that  the  whole  catastrophe  assumed  appalling  pro- 
portions. Even  American  communities  are  apt  to  become 
reckless  and  riotous  in  time  of  calamity,  and  in  China  this 
tendency  of  human  nature  was  intensified  by  a  superstition 
which  led  the  people  to  believe  that  the  disaster  was  due  to 
the  baleful  influence  of  the  foreigners,  or  that  it  was  a  pun- 
ishment for  their  failure  to  resist  them,  while  in  the  farther 
north  a  drought  led  to  equally  superstitious  fury  against  "the 
foreign  devils." 

The  now  famous  Boxers  were  members  of  two  of  the 
secret  societies  which  have  long  flourished  in  China.  To  the 
Chinese  they  are  known  as  League  of  United  Patriots,  Great 
Sword  Society,  Righteous  Harmony  Fists'  Association  and 
kindred  names.  Originally,  they  were  hostile  to  the  foreign 
Manchu  dynasty.  When  Germany  made  the  murder  of  two 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries  a  pretext  for  pushing  her  politi- 
cal ambitions,  the  Boxers  naturally  arrayed  themselves  against 
them.  As  the  champions  of  the  national  spirit  against  the 
foreigners,  the  membership  rapidly  increased.  Supernatural 
power  was  claimed.  Temples  were  converted  into  meeting 
places,  and  soon  excited  men  were  drilling  in  every   village. 

The  real  ruler  of  China  at  this  time,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  was  the  Empress  Dowager,  who  has  been  fitly  des- 
cribed as  "the  only  man  in  China."  At  any  rate,  she  is  a 
woman  of  extraordinary  force  of  character.     She  was  astute 


27 

enough  to  encourage  the  Boxers,  and  thus  turn  one  of  the 
most  troublesome  foes  of  the  Manchu  throne  against  the 
common  enemy,  the  foreigner.  Under  her  influence,  the 
depredations  of  the  Boxers,  which  were  at  first  confined  to 
the  Shantung  Province,  spread  with  the  swiftness  of  a  prairie 
fire,  until  the  most  important  provinces  of  the  empire  were 
ablaze.  In  the  heat  of  the  conflict  and  under  the  agonizing 
strain  of  anxiety  for  imperiled  loved  ones,  many  hard  things 
were  said  and  written  about  the  officials,  who  allied  them- 
selves with  the  Boxers.  But  Sir  Robert  Hart,  who  person- 
ally knows  them,  and  who  suffered  as  much  as  any  one  from 
their  fury,  candidly  wrote  after  the  siege  :  "  These  men  were 
eminent  in  their  own  country  for  their  learning  and  services, 
were  animated  by  patriotism,  were  enraged  by  foreign  dicta- 
tion, and  had  the  courage  of  their  convictions.  We  must  do 
them  the  justice  of  allowing  that  they  were  actuated  by  high 
motives  and  love  of  country,"  though  he  adds,  "that  does 
not  always  or  necessarily  mean  political  ability  or  highest 
wisdom." 

And  so  the  irrepressible  conflict  broke  out.  It  had  to 
come,  a  conflict  between  conservatism  and  progress,  between 
race  prejudice  and  brotherhood,  between  superstition  and 
Christianity,  the  tremendous  conflict  of  ages,  which  every 
nation  has  had  to  fight,  and  which,  in  China,  is  not  different 
in  kind,  but  only  on  a  vaster  scale,  because  there  it  involved 
half  the  human  race  at  once. 

RESPONSIBILITY  OF  MISSIONARIES. 

Shallow  critics  vociferously  tell  us  that  the  missionaries 
are  chiefly  responsible  for  the  outbreak.  True,  there  is  a 
sense  in  which  the  Gospel  does  revolutionize  heathen  com- 
munities. Christ  himself  said:  "Think  not  that  I  am  come 
to  send  peace  on  earth  :  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a 
sword  ;  for  I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his 
father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother,  and  the  daughter- 
in-law  against  her  mother-in-law."  There  is  always  more  or 
less  persecution  in  a  heathen  land  when  a  man  turns  away 
from  the  old  faith  and  confesses  Christ.  But  opposition  of 
that  sort  is  usually  local  and  sporadic.  It  affects  more  or 
less  individuals,  but  it  does  not  cause  such  a  vast  movement 
of  population  as  that  now  taking  place  in  China.  The  mis- 
sionaries, as  missionaries,  have  not  been  so  bitterly  hated  by 
the  Chinese.  Not  only  men,  but  women,  have  traveled  far 
into  the  interior,  frequently  alone,  and  always  unarmed. 
They  have  freely  gone  into  the  homes  of  the  people,  preached 
in  the  village  streets,  slept  unprotected  in  Chinese  houses, 
and  have  received  much  personal  kindness  from  all  classes. 


28 

If  no  other  force  had  been  at  work  than  the  foreign  mission- 
ary, this  anti-foreign  agitation  would  never  have  started. 

The  animosity  of  the  Chinese  has  been  primarily  excited 
not  by  the  missionary,  but  by  the  trader  and  the  politician. 
It  is  foolish  to  say  that  the  missionary  is  responsible  for  the 
prompt  appearance  of  the  consul  and  the  gunboat.  The 
missionary  goes  forth  without  either  consul  or  gunboat  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  to  teach  the  young,  to  heal  the  sick,  to 
comfort  the  dying,  to  care  for  the  orphaned.  He  devotes  his 
life  to  ameliorating  the  sad  conditions-  which  prevail  in 
heathen  communities.  His  reliance  is  not  upon  the  arm  of 
flesh,  but  upon  that  Christ  who  promised  to  be  with  His  dis- 
ciples always.  But  as  soon  as  his  work  begins  to  tell,  the 
trader  appears  to  buy  and  sell  in  the  new  market.  The  poli- 
tician casts  covetous  eyes  on  the  newly  opened  territory. 
Christianity  civilizes,  and  civilization  increases  wants,  stimu- 
lates trade  and  breaks  down  barriers.  The  conditions  of 
modern  civilization  are  developed.  Then  the  consul  is  sent, 
not  because  the  missionary  asks  for  him,  but  because  the 
government  chooses  to  send  him.  Sooner  or  later  some 
local  trouble  occurs,  and  the  politician  takes  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  to  further  the  territorial  or  commercial  am- 
bitions of  his  country.  What  did  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
care  for  Roman  Catholic  missionary  work  in  China  until  two 
German  monks  were  killed  by  a  mob?  But  that  catastrophe 
so  shocked  him  that  nothing  would  soothe  his  wounded  re- 
ligious feelings  but  the  wrenching  from  China  of  a  seaport 
in  Kiaochow  Bay,  to  serve  as  a  base  for  his  plans  of  German 
aggrandizement  in  the  Shantung  province.  "  Missionaries 
responsible,  indeed!"  writes  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup.  "The  dip- 
lomats of  Europe  know  better.  Had  there  been  no  grabbing 
of  seaports  and  hinterlands,  no  forcing  modern  improvements 
and  European  goods  down  the  throats  of  the  Chinese,  the 
missionaries  would  have  been  let  alone  now  as  in  the  past." 

But  it  is  said  that  the  missionaries  and  Boards  will,  of 
course,  defend  themselves.  I  have,  therefore,  been  at  some 
pains  to  collect  the  testimony  of  men  whose  positions  are  a 
guarantee  of  both  knowledge  and  fairness. 

The  Hon.  George  F.  Seward,  former  United  States  Min- 
ister to  China,  declares:  "The  people  at  large  make  too 
much  of  missionary  work  as  an  occasion  for  trouble.  There 
are  missionaries  who  are  iconoclasts,  but  this  is  not  their 
spirit,  in  great  measure.  They  are  men  of  education  and 
judgment.  They  depend  upon  spiritual  weapons  and  good 
works.  For  every  enemy  a  missionary  makes,  he  makes 
fifty  friends.  The  one  enemy  may  arouse  an  ignorant  rabble 
to  attack  him.  While  I  was  in  China  I  always  congratulated 
myself  on  the  fact  that  the  missionaries  were  there.     There 


29 

were  good  men  and  able  men  among  the  merchants  and  offi- 
cials, but  it  was  the  missionary  who  exhibited  the  foreigner 
in  benevolent  work  as  having  other  aims  than  those  which 
may  justly  be  called  selfish.  The  good  done  by  missionaries 
in  the  way  of  education,  of  medical  relief  and  of  other  chari- 
ties cannot  be  overstated.  If  in  China  there  were  none  other 
than  missionary  influences,  the  upbuilding  of  that  great 
people  would  go  forward  securely.  I  was  nearly  twenty 
years  in  China  endeavoring  to  serve  our  Government  and 
people.  During  all  that  time  not  an  American  missionary 
suffered  death  from  the  violence  of  the  Chinese.  I  am  not 
a  religionist,  not  a  church  member,  but  I  have  the  profound- 
est  admiration  for  the  missionary  as  I  have  known  him  in 
China.     He  is  a  power  for  good  and  for  peace,  not  for  evil." 

President  James  B.  Angell,  another  United  States  Minis- 
ter to  China,  replies  as  follows  to  the  question,  "Are  the 
Chinese  averse  to  the  introduction  of  the  Christian  religion?": 
"  No,  not  in  that  broad  sense.  They  do  not  seem  to  fear  for 
the  permanency  of  their  own  religion.  It  is  not  that  they 
object  to  missionaries  and  the  Christian  religion  as  much  as 
it  is  that  the  missionaries  are  foreigners.  A  more  serious 
cause  of  the  uprising  is  the  widespread  suspicion  among  the 
natives,  since  the  Japanese  war,  that  the  foreigners  are  go- 
"ing  to  partition  China.  It  is  not  strange  that  all  these  con- 
ditions cause  friction  and  excitement.  The  Chinese  want  to 
be  left  to  themselves,  and  the  one  word  '  foreigners  '  sums 
up  the  great  cause  of  the  present  trouble." 

The  Hon.  Charles  Denby,  after  thirteen  years'  experience 
as  United  States  Minister  to  China,  wrote:  "No  one  can 
controvert  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  enormously  benefited 
by  the  labors  of  the  missionaries.  Foreign  hospitals  are  a 
great  boon  to  the  sick.  In  the  matter  of  education,  the 
movement  is  immense.  There  are  schools  and  colleges  all 
over  China  taught  by  the  missionaries.  There  are  also  many 
foreign  asylums  in  various  cities  which  take  care  of  thous- 
ands of  waifs.  The  missionaries  translate  into  Chinese 
many  scientific  and  philosophical  works.  There  are  various 
anti-opium  hospitals  where  the  victims  of  this  vice  are  cured. 
There  are  industrial  schools  and  workshops.  There  are  many 
native  Christian  churches.  The  converts  seem  to  be  as  de- 
vout as  people  of  any  other  race.  As  far  as  my  knowledge 
extends,  I  can  and  do  say  that  the  missionaries  in  China  are 
self-sacrificing  ;  that  their  lives  are  pure  ;  that  they  are  de- 
voted to  their  work ;  that  their  influence  is  beneficial  to  the 
natives  ;  that  the  arts  and  sciences  and  civilization  are  great- 
ly spread  by  their  efforts  ;  that  many  useful  western  books 
are  translated  by  them  into  Chinese  ;  that  they  are  the  lead- 
ers in  all  charitable  work,  giving  largely  themselves  and  per- 


30 

sonally  disbursing  the  funds  with  which  they  are  intrusted ; 
that  they  do  make  converts,  and  such  converts  are  mentally 
benefited  by  conversion."  And  more  recently  he  has  added: 
"  I  do  not  believe  that  the  uprising  in  China  was  due  to  hatred 
of  the  missionaries  or  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  Chinese 
are  a  philosophic  people,  and  rarely  act  without  reasoning 
upon  the  causes  and  results  of  their  actions.  They  have 
seen  their  land  disappearing  and  becoming  the  property  of 
foreigners,  and  it  was  this  that  awakened  hatred  of  foreigners 
and  not  the  actions  of  the  missionaries  or  the  doctrines  that 
they  teach." 

The  present  United  vStates  Minister,  the  Hon.  E.  H.  Conger, 
has  repeatedly  borne  similar  testimony,  publicly  assuring  the 
missionaries  of  his  "  personal  respect  and  profound  gratitude 
for  their  noble  conduct." 

Ex-Secretary  of  State  John  W.  Foster,  counsel  for  the 
Chinese  Government  in  the  settlement  with  Japan,  says  : 
"  The  opinion  formed  by  me  after  careful  inquiry  and  obser- 
vation is  that  the  mass  of  the  population  of  China,  particu- 
larly the  common  people,  are  not  specially  hostile  to  the  mis- 
sionaries and  their  work.  Occasional  riots  have  occurred, 
but  they  are  almost  invariably  traced  to  the  literati  or  pros- 
pective office  holders  and  the  ruling  classes.  These  are  often 
bigoted  and  conceited  to  the  highest  degree,  and  regard  the 
teachings  of  the  missionaries  as  tending  to  overthrow  the 
existing  order  of  government  and  society,  which  they  look 
upon  as  a  perfect  system,  and  sanctified  by  great  antiquity." 
Wu  Ting  Fang,  Chinese  Minister  to  Washington,  while 
frankly  stating  that  "  missionaries  are  placed  in  a  very  deli- 
cate situation,"  and  that  "we  must  not  be  blind  to  the  fact 
that  some,  in  their  excessive  zeal,  have  been  indiscreet," 
nevertheless  as  frankly  says  :  "  It  has  been  commonly  sup- 
posed that  missionaries  are  the  sole  cause  of  anti-foreign 
feeling  in  China.  This  charge  is  unfair.  Miseionaries  have 
done  a  great  deal  of  good  in  China.  They  have  translated 
useful  works  into  the  Chinese  language,  published  scientific 
and  educational  journals  and  established  schools  in  the  coun- 
try. Medical  missionaries  especially  have  been  remarkably 
successful  in  their  philanthropic  work." 

Ex-President  Harrison  replied  to  my  inquiry  last  fall  in 
the  terse  remark:  "  If  what  Lord  Salisbury  says  were  true, 
the  reflection  would  not  be  upon  the  missionaries,  but  upon 
the  premiers." 

The  Hon.  John  Barrett,  late  Minister  of  the  United  States 
to  Siam.  writes  :  "  Let  us  be  fair  in  judging  the  missionaries. 
Let  the  complaining  merchant,  traveler  or  clubman  take  the 
beam  from  his  own  eye  before  he  demands  that  the  mote  be 
taken  from  the  missionary's  eye.     We  must  remember  that 


31 

we  are  a  Christian  as  well  as  a  commercial  nation.  More,  a 
moral  as  well  as  a  material  power.  We  cannot  think  of  with- 
drawing the  messengers  of  Christianity  from  Asia  until  we 
are  ready  to  withdraw  the  merchants  of  commerce  and  the 
minister  of  diplomacy.  In  my  diplomatic  experience  in  Siam 
150  missionaries  gave  me  less  trouble  in  five  years  than  fif- 
teen merchants  gave  me  in  five  months." 

General  James  H.  Wilson,  of  the  United  States  Army, 
late  second  in  command  of  our  force  in  Peking,  adds  his  tes- 
timony:  "Our  missionaries,  after  the  earlier  Jesuits,  were 
almost  the  first  in  that  wide  field  (China).  They  were  gen- 
erally men  of  great  piety  and  learning,  like  Morrison,  Brown, 
Martin  and  Williams,  and  did  all  in  their  power  as  genuine 
men  of  God  to  show  the  heathen  that  the  stranger  was  not 
necessarily  a  public  enemy,  but  might  be  an  evangel  of  a 
higher  and  better  civilization.  These  men  and  their  co- 
laborers  have  established  hospitals,  schools  and  colleges  in 
various  cities  and  provinces  of  the  empire,  which  are  every- 
where recognized  by  intelligent  Chinamen  as  centres  of  un- 
mitigated blessing  to  the  people.  Millions  of  dollars  have 
been  spent  in  this  beneficent  work,  and  the  result  is  slowly 
but  surely  spreading  the  conviction  that  foreign  arts  and 
sciences  are  superior  to  '  fung  shuey '  and  native  supersti- 
tion." 

Consul-General  Goodnow,  of  Shanghai,  emphatically  de- 
clares:  "  It  is  absurd  to  charge  the  missionaries  with  caus- 
ing the  Boxer  war.  They  are  simply  hated  by  the  Chinese 
as  one  part  of  a  great  foreign  element  that  threatened  to  up- 
set the  national  institutions." 

Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai  wrote  to  the  Baptist  and  Pres- 
byterian missionaries  of  the  Shantung  province  this  spring  : 
"You,  reverend  sirs,  have  been  preaching  in  China  for  many 
years,  and,  without  exception,  exhort  men  concerning  right- 
eousness. Your  church  customs  are  strict  and  correct,  and 
all  your  converts  may  well  observe  them.  In  establishing 
your  customs  you  have  been  careful  to  see  that  Chinese  law 
was  observed.  How,  then,  can  it  be- said  that  there  is  dis- 
loyalty ?  To  meet  this  sort  of  calumny,  I  have  instructed 
that  proclamations  be  put  out.  I  purpose,  hereafter,  to  have 
lasting  peace.  Church  interests  may  then  prosper,  and  your 
idea  of  preaching  righteousness  I  can  promote.  The  present 
upheaval  is  of  a  most  extraordinary  character.  It  forced  you, 
reverend  sirs,  by  land  and  water  to  go  long  journeys,  and 
subjected  you  to  alarm  and  danger,  causing  me  many  qualms 
of  conscience." 

A  charge  which  has  been  so  completely  demolished  by 
such  competent  and  unprejudiced  witnesses  can  only  be  re- 
newed at  the  expense  of  either  intelligence  or  candor. 


32 

Amid  all  the  furious  onslaught  of  criticism  upon  mission- 
aries in  China  in  connection  with  the  recent  troubles,  there 
has  not  been,  so  far  as  I  know,  a  single  specific  charge 
against  any  of  our  Presbyterian  workers,  though  they  have 
naturally  suffered  from  the  reproach  which  the  careless  pub- 
lic has  indiscriminately  cast  upon  the  whole  missionary  body, 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  European  and  American.  They 
have  been  modestly  reluctant  to  proclaim  their  own  innocence 
of  the  charges  so  freely  brought  against  their  fellows.  They 
might  have  justly  expected  more  considerate  treatment  in 
view  of  their  past  service  and  the  frightful  ordeal  through 
which  they  have  passed.  But  it  is  due  to  them  and  to  their 
many  friends  in  the  Board  and  the  Church  that  the  facts 
should  be  known.  I  have  made  it  a  part  of  my  business  in 
China  to  learn  them — not  because  I  suspected  our  beloved 
friends — I  know  them  too  well  for  that — but  because  I  want- 
ed to  authoritatively  answer  critics  who  are  not  willing  to  ac- 
cept the  presumptions  of  character,  and  to  relieve  the  minds 
of  those  in  the  home  churches  who  have  never  personally 
met  our  missionaries,  and  who  are  troubled  by  the  fear  that 
their  good  name  and  the  interests  of  a  sacred  cause  may  be 
injured  by  identification  with  the  acts  of  others,  who,  how- 
ever conscientiously,  did  things  in  the  heat  and  stress  of  an 
appalling  emergency  which  were  not  altogether  wise.  There 
is  nothing  which  we  need  to  conceal,  nothing  of  which  we 
are  ashamed.     And  first  as  to 

LOOTING. 

For  nearly  two  months  men,  women  and  children  had 
been  closely  besieged.  At  the  British  Legation  there  were 
419  marines,  "over  400"  other  foreigners,  including  mem- 
bers of  legations  and  missionaries,  and  2,650  Chinese  Christ- 
ians ;  at  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  were  40  marines,  40 
priests  and  nuns,  and  3,400  Chinese  Christians — about  7,000 
in  all.  The  outbreaiT'oT'Ti'ostilities  had  found  them  unpre- 
pared, and  they  had  hurriedly  taken  refuge  at  the  legation 
and  cathedral  without  opportunity  to  make  adequate  provis- 
ion for  their  necessities.  To  protect  their  helpless  charges 
from  the  pitiless  storm  of  shells  and  bullets,  sand  bags  were 
made  out  of  every  available  material  within  the  reach  of 
sorties — cotton  and  silk,  velvet  and  broadcloth,  lace  and  vel- 
vet. I  saw  the  little  Episcopal  chapel,  not  much  larger  than 
a  good-sized  drawing-room,  in  which  seventy  missionaries, 
including  children,  ate  and  slept  during  the  entire  siege.  I 
heard  Dr.  Wherry  and  Mr.  Killie  describe  the  scanty  rations 
of  mule  meat  and  stale  rice,  with  which  all  had  to  be  con- 
tent.    I  listened  to  Bishop  Favier  as  he  told  me  that  for  the 


33 

first  month  of  the  siege  the  food  allowance  for  each  of  those 
under  his  care,  and  2,700  of  them  were  women  and  children, 
was  half  a  pound  a  day.  The  first  half  of  the  second  month 
it  was  four  ounces  a  day,  and  the  second  half  it  was  two 
ounces  a  day,  the  hungry  people,  in  their  desperation,  eating 
the  very  roots  and  bark  and  leaves  of  the  trees. 

When  the  relief  expedition  entered  the  city,  all  these 
ragged,  famishing  hosts  were  liberated,  and  the  men,  of 
course,  and  of  necessity,  sought  immediately  for  supplies  of 
food  and  clothing  for  them,  as  well  as  houses  to  which  these 
homeless  families  could  be  taken,  for  the  ministers  were 
obliged  to  ask  the  missionaries  to  go  elsewhere,  and  thus  re- 
lieve the  congestion  at  the  British  Legation.  But  nothing 
could  be  bought,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  sell.  Half  the  population  had  fled  in  terror  from  the 
city,  and  that  half  included  nearly  all  of  the  oflficial,  social  and 
commercial  classes.  They  had  left  their  homes  as  precip- 
itately as  the  missionaries  had  left  theirs  eight  weeks  before. 
On  every  side  were  deserted  residences  filled  with  rich 
furniture,  abandoned  shops  containing  ample  stores  of  food 
and  clothing.  What  was  to  be  done?  Some  sapient  critics 
talk  as  though  those  men  ought  to  have  compelled  their 
wives  and  children  to  starve  in  the  midst  of  plenty  belonging 
to  foes  who  had  been  trying  to  kill  them,  and  let  the  plenty 
be  carried  off  by  Chinese  thieves  rather  than  touch  a  mouth- 
ful of  it  themselves  ;  to  have  forced  their  families  to  lie  down 
on  the  broken  bricks  at  the  ruins  of  their  former  homes 
rather  than  enter  a  single  empty  house.  I  confess  to  a  feel- 
ing of  contemptuous  indignation  for  such  supercilious 
Phariseeism.  And  why  single  out  the  missionaries,  as  if 
they  were  the  only  ones,  when  every  foreigner,  including 
marine  officers  and  members  of  legations,  adopted  the  same 
course  ?  But  that  is  not  looting,  plundering  for  personal 
gain. 

I  grant,  however,  that  there  was  looting,  the  pillaging  of 
homes  for  furs,  silks,  silver,  jewelry  and  bric-a-brac,  that  there 
was  a  regular  carnival  of  greed  in  which  many  foreigners 
participated.  The  soldiers  of  the  relief  expedition  were 
particularly  prominent  in  this.  In  the  language  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Arthur  H.  Smith,  of  the  American  Board:  "There  came 
to  China  numerous  foreign  troops  of  many  nationalities,  and 
they  were  not  in  a  happy  frame  of  mind  when  they  reached 
there.  Our  Legations  had  been  murderously  attacked  for 
two  months  together,  and  between  200  and  300  innocent  for- 
eigners had  been  barbarously  butchered  in  the  interior  of  the 
empire.  This  certainly  does  not  make  a  good  background 
for  exhibitions  of  international  law  in  actual  operation.  That 
Russian,  French  and  German  soldiers  committed  excesses  is 


34 

as  certain  as  that  these  troops  came  to  China.  But  it  is  un- 
questionable that  many  accounts  (such  as  the  oft-quoted  tale 
of  Dr.  Dillon)  are  demonstrable  falsehoods,  told  with  intent 
to  make  a  sensation." 

I  called  on  Sir  Robert  Hart,  the  famous  Inspector  Gen- 
eral of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  and  who,  as 
one  of  the  besieged,  is  conversant  with  the  whole  subject, 
and  I  asked  him  whether  it  was  true  that  the  missionaries  de- 
served censure  for  looting?  He  kindly  gave  me  the  following 
statement  in  writing.  Note  his  use  of  the  first  personal  pro- 
noun, thus  identifying  himself  with  his  fellow  sufferers,  both 
missionary,  military  and  official : 

"  Looting  has  evoked  much  discussion.  It  has  had  its 
uses  and  abuses.  Tar  is  the  right  thing  when  in  the  right 
place,  and,  perhaps,  so  too  is  loot.  But  when  the  tar-brush 
is  spoken  of,  it  oftener  suggests  the  idea  of  dirt  than  of  mat- 
ter in  the  right  place.  During  the  siege,  we  looted  neighbor- 
ing houses.  We  thereby  got  food  to  live  on  and  materials 
to  make  sand-bags  with.  After  the  siege  we  had  to  find 
quarters  for  ourselves,  and  we  had  to  furnish  them.  And  we 
had  to  find  food  for  ourselves  and  for  the  Chinese  connected 
with  us.  If  we  occupied  other  people's  empty  houses,  if  we 
collected  necessary  furniture  from  other  people's  deserted 
houses,  if  we  seized  and  used  food  at  points  where  there  was 
nobody  in  charge  to  buy  it  from,  it  was  because  necessity 
forced  us  to  do  so,  a  necessity  that  grew  out  of  such  lawless 
doings  as  temporarily  swept  away  all  possibility  of  living  ac- 
cording to  law.  Charitable  interpretation  will  recognize  the 
plight  we  were  in  and  acknowledge  the  fitness  of  the  effects 
produced  by  such  a  cause. 

All  the  same,  it  is  possible  that  much  more  was  taken 
than  was  required;  and  to  whatever  extent  that  was  done, 
to  that  extent  might  appropriation  be  objected  to.  The 
question  is,  of  course,  complicated  by  considerations  suges- 
tive  of  ideas  of  reprisals,  prize-money  and  sacking,  and  con- 
siderable latitude  is  allowable.  The  flight  of  a  terror-stricken 
population  may  or  may  not  constitute  a  valid  reason  for  re- 
garding the  rights  of  ownership  as  ended.  For  my  part,  I 
should  have  preferred  protection  for  deserted  houses,  and 
the  restoration  of  their  property  intact  to  returning  families. 
For  some  days  after  the  relief,  license,  as  inevitable,  ruled, 
and  one  thing  may  be  safely  said — the  missionary  was,  at  all 
events,  not  worse  than  his  neighbor,  the  probability  is  that 
he  was  better,  and  the  certainty  is  that  for  whatever  he  did 
he  had  better  reasons  and  more  justification  than  others. 
And  yet,  just  because  he  is  a  missionary,  criticism  was  all 
the  more  pointed.  Whoever  pleads  necessity  and  helps  him- 
self to  other  people's  goods  must  first  of  all  show  very  un- 


35 

usual  circumstances  to  be  entitled  to  a  hearing  ;  and  each 
appropriation  must  then  be  judged  of  on  its  own  special 
merits.  1  have  no  doubt  the  missionaries  who  had  thus  to 
help  themselves  did  so  with  a  clear  conscience,  and  their 
critics  could  hardly  have  acted  otherwise  under  the  circum- 
stances. Still,  there  was  looting — looting  of  every  kind — 
justifiable  and  unavoidable,  and  also  avoidable  and  unjustifi" 
able — and  looting  has  a  bad  name,  and  the  reproach  of  it 
sticks.  Apart  from  the  exhiliarating  but  demoralizing  effect 
it  may  have  had  on  the  Chinese  members  of  their  churches, 
I  do  not  think  Chinese  sufferers  will  make  any  distinction  as 
regards  the  foreigners  concerned.  They  will  simply  say 
"  foreigners  looted."  But  non-Christian  Chinese  are  said  to 
be  very  wroth  over  the  indignities  put  on  them  by  the — for 
the  moment  triumphant — converts  and  the  losses  they  at- 
tribute to  their  initiative  and  their  growing  greed." 

But  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  general  conduct  of  the 
foreigners  as  a  body,  after  thorough  investigation,  I  deny 
point  blank  that  our  Presbyterian  missionaries  took  any  part 
in  the  looting  of  Peking,  further  than  to  aid  in  obtaining 
absolutely  necessary  food  and  clothing  from  abandoned 
shops — supplies  without  which  the  women  and  children  under 
their  care  would  have  died.  With  the  exception  of  a  few 
rusty  guns  and  swords  of  dead  Boxers,  picked  up  on  the 
field  of  battle,  our  missionaries  took  only  what  those  depend- 
ent on  them  required,  and  gave  their  names  to  any  Chinese 
who  could  be  found,  with  the  assurances  that  full  market 
value  would  be  paid  to  an  owner  who  could  established  his 
claim.  Our  missionaries,  like  other  foreigners,  might  easily 
have  enriched  themselves,  for  wealthy  Chinese,  unlike  our 
rich  men  at  home,  often  keep  their  riches  in  their  houses. 
But  though  our  missionaries  lost  everything  they  had  in  the 
world,  they  scrupulously  refrained  from  even  the  appearance 
of  evil. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  mention  an  instance  as  an  illustration 
of  their  conscientious  sensitiveness  on  this  point.  One  of 
our  young  ladies  found  some  silver  pins.  She  asked  Min- 
ister Conger  whether  she  had  better  keep  them.  He  said 
certainly,  as  the  owner  could  not  be  found  and  the  trinkets 
were  of  small  value.  So  she  kept  them  for  a  time.  But  it 
so  troubled  her,  notwithstanding  Minister  Conger's  knowl- 
edge and  approval,  that  she  sent  them  with  an  explanation 
and  apology  to  the  army  officer  then  in  charge  of  the  dis- 
trict in  which  she  had  found  them.  He  laughed  at  her  scruples, 
refused  to  receive  them,  said  that  some  soldier  would  take 
them  if  she  did  not,  and  told  the  missionery  friend  who 
brought  them  to  take  them  back  to  her.  But  he,  knowing 
her  wishes,  was  obdurate,  and  when  the  officer  persisted  in 


36 

declining    to    accept    them,  left    the    pins    on  the  table  and 
walked  out. 

When  the  missionaries  were  notified  by  the  Legations  that 
they  must  seek  quarters  elsewhere  for  themselves  and  their 
native  Christians,  two  of  them  went  "house-hunting."  They 
soon  found  .the  spacious  residence  of  a  wealthy  Chinese  mer- 
chant who  was  almost  frantic  over  the  ruthlessness  of  sol- 
diers who  were  daily  ransacking  his  property.  Hearing  that 
his  present  visitors  were  missionaries  seeking  a  temporary 
home,  he  literally  implored  them  to  take  possession  in  the 
hope  that  their  occupation  would  protect  his  home  from  ut- 
ter ruin.  He  said  that  he  owned  another  place  nearby  to 
which  he  could  remove  his  family.  So  our  missionaries 
moved  in,  establishing  the  native  Christians  under  their 
charge  in  adjacent  deserted  buildings.  On  entering,  they 
found  the  floors  piled  deep  with  an  almost  incredible  amount 
of  silks  and  furs  which  the  Chinese  owner  had  stored  in  his 
house  for  safe  keeping  and  which  the  plundering  soldiers 
had  scattered  about  in  their  search  for  silver  and  jewelry. 
Not  a  piece  of  all  this  did  our  missionaries  touch,  but  they 
insisted  on  the  owner  himself  gathering  all  of  it  up  and  tak 
ing  it  away. 

But  let  the  missionaries  speak  for  themselves.  The  fol" 
lowing  statement  was  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Wherry, 
read  to,  and  unanimously  approved  by,  all  the  other  members 
of  the  station  present  in  Peking  during  the  conferences  with 
me. 

"Although  more  than  300  of  the  native  Christians  (and 
inquirers)  belonging  to  the  Peking  station  were  killed  by 
the  Boxers  in  the  summer  of  1900,  a  considerable  number — 
perhaps  as  many  as  120 — escaped.  Part  of  these  had  found 
refuge  in  the  Legations  before  they  were  surrounded  by 
Tung  Fu  Hsiang's  troops.  Others  had  hidden  themselves 
away  in  unfrequented  places,  in  the  fields  or  on  the  moun- 
tains. All  were  homeless  and  destitute.  Almost  immedi- 
ately after  the  raising  of  the  siege  notice  was  given  to  our 
missionaries  in  the  English  Legation  that  the  room  occupied 
by  them  and  their  converts  would  be  required  for  other  pur- 
poses. It  was  necessary,  therefore,  for  missionary  and 
convert  to  seek  immediate  shelter  elsewhere.  A  search  dis- 
covered two  residences  in  close  proximity  in  the  quarter 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  States  troops  that  would 
answer  the  requirements.  These,  with  the  free  consent  of 
the  owners,  who  coveted  the  protection  guaranteed  by  the 
residence  of  American  missionaries,  and  with  the  full  ap- 
proval of  the  American  Minister,  Mr.  Conger,  were  at  once 
taken  possession  of,  and  are  still  held  by  our  mission.  Noth- 
ing was  said  as  to  rent.      The  owners  were  too  grateful  for 


37 

protection  from  pillage  to  suggest  it.  The  missionaries 
knew  not  what  minute  they  might  be  ordered  to  leave 
Peking. 

"At  the  Chinese  New  Year  the  mission  voluntarily  gave 
each  of  the  landlords  a  check  for  50  taels.  At  the  end  of 
the  financial  year  in  April,  in  the  same  voluntary  way,  a 
check  for  200  taels  each  were  added,  making  the  total  paid 
for  rent  to  that  date  500  taels.  These  sums  were  accepted 
gratefully  and  with  profuse  thanks,  and  the  missionaries 
were  requested  to  remain  as  long  as  their  necessities  re- 
quired. Further  payments  for  rent  will  be  made  from  time 
to  time.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  no  rent 
has  been  asked  for  by  the  owners,  and  that  tens  of  thousands 
of  taels'  worth  of  property  has  been  preserved  to  them 
from  spoliation  by  the  foreign  occupation  of  these  houses. 

"Food  was  as  necessary  to  missionaries  and  converts  as 
shelter.  Our  Minister,  recognizing  the  fact,  urged,  if  in- 
deed he  did  not  positively  direct,  us  to  secure  this  at  once — 
by  purchase  if  possible — by  taking  it  from  abandoned  shops 
if  it  could  not  otherwise  be  had.  Purchase  proved  quite  out 
of  the  question.  The  shop  owners  had  disappeared,  and  the 
whole  city  was  given  over  to  pillage,  the  Chinese  themselves 
taking  the  leading  part.  On  a  visit  to  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity, Dr.  Martin  found  in  its  immediate  neighborhood  a 
small  shop,  entirely  abandoned,  and  all  its  doors  broken 
down  and  wide  open,  containing  a  considerable  supply  of 
wheat,  and  a  small  store  of  rice  and  beans.  He  advised  our 
mission  to  secure  this  wheat  at  once,  and  promised  to  be 
personally  responsible  for  its  value  in  case  the  owner  re- 
turned. Several  of  the  ordinary  small  Peking  carts  were  ac- 
cordingly dispatched,  with  Dr.  Martin  as  a  guide,  to  the 
shop,  and  came  back  laden  with  the  precious  grain.  Dr. 
Martin  himself  remained,  dinnerless,  too,  for  the  return  of 
the  carts  for  a  second  load.  During  the  second  visit  a  Rus- 
sian officer  in  charge  of  the  district  appeared  on  the  scene, 
but  finding  the  grain  in  our  carts  not  such  as  was  required 
by  the  Russian  army,  allowed  us  to  take  it  away.  This  grain 
we  had  ground  into  flour  and  sold  it  to  the  native  Christians 
at  a  low  price,  until  some  other  sources  of  supply  appeared. 
We  then  advised  the  purchase  of  grain  in  the  market,  and 
the  retention  of  the  wheat  until  the  price  of  grain  advanced, 
as  we  felt  sure  it  would.  In  the  meantime,  a  large  supply  of 
American  flour  and  Korean  rice,  the  gift  to  the  American 
army  of  the  Emperor  of  Korea,  was  presented  to  our  mis- 
sion by  General  Chaffee  for  the  use  of  the  Christians.  This, 
too,  we  sold  at  a  low  price,  except  in  cases  of  poverty,  where 
it  was  freely  given  away.  With  the  proceeds  we  bought 
cheaper  grains — millet  and  old  rice — which  in  turn  were  also 


38 

sold  and  the  proceeds  invested  as  before.  In  this  way  we 
tid-d  over  the  hard  winter  without  great  suffering,  and  with- 
out drawing  largely  on  our  original  stocks  of  wheat.  When 
the  season  of  1901  was  sufficiently  advanced  to  insure  a 
good  harvest,  we  sold  the  balance  of  this  wheat  at  a  high 
price,  and  put  the  remainder,  nearly  $200,  in  bank  to  await 
the  return  of  the  owner.  This  sum  will  be  increased  by  the 
proceeds  of  sales.     As  yet  this  owner  has  not  appeared. 

"  The  shop  remained  untenanted  for  nearly  a  year.  Various 
enquiries  failed  to  elicit  the  whereabouts  of  the  managers. 
In  the  meantime  all  the  movable  appurtenances,  even  the 
heavy  millstones,  were  carried  away  by  plunderers.  About 
a  year  after  the  raising  of  the  siege,  I  made  it  a  final  visit, 
preparatory  to  returning  to  the  United  States,  and  learned 
from  neighbors  that  the  day  before  one  of  the  junior  man- 
agers had  returned  from  his  flight.  I  arranged  for  an  inter- 
view with  him  the  next  day.  I  learned  at  this  interview  that 
the  chief  owner  and  head  manager  of  the  shop  had  com- 
mitted suicide  a  day  or  two  after  the  taking  of  the  city  by 
the  allied  troops,  when  a  general  looting  of  the  shops  and 
residences  of  wealthy  citizens  had  begun,  and  that  the  other 
partners  and  assistants  had  all  fled  to  the  province  of  Shan- 
tung. After  receiving  adequate  assurances  from  neighboring 
shopmen  that  he  was  entitled  to  receive  it  I  turned  over  to 
the  junior  manager  a  small  quantity  of  rice  and  beans  still 
undisposed  of  that  had  come  from  his  shop,  and  the  proceeds 
of  the  sale  of  wheat  mentioned  above,  to  which  I  added  the 
market  value  of  the  wheat,  rice  and  beans  sold  or  given 
away  to  our  native  Christians,  amounting  in  all  to  nearly 
three  hundred  dollars.  For  this  our  friend  expressed  his 
grateful  thanks,  and  affirmed  that  he  was  fully  satisfied  with 
our  action  in  the  matter.  He  might  well  have  been  so,  for 
without  our  interference  he  would  have  been  left  penniless, 
the  building  which  his  firm  occupied  not  being  their  own. 

"  One  small  cartload  of  grain,  partly  wheat,  partly  rice, 
was  secured  at  an  abandoned  dwelling  in  another  part  of  the 
city  by  permission  of  the  army  officer  in  charge  of  the  dis- 
trict. Except  rifles,  ammunition,  swords.  Boxer  flags,  records, 
badges,  etc.,  picked  up  in  the  streets  or  found  in  Boxer 
camps,  no  other  goods  than  grain  were  taken  by  the  mis- 
sionaries of  the  Presbyterian  Board." 

Wide  currency  has  been  given  to  the  criticisms  on  mis- 
sionaries in  the  report  of  Major-General  Chaffee  to  the  War 
Department.  In  Manila,  I  asked  General  Chaffee  whether 
his  criticisms  applied  to  any  of  our  Presbyterian  mission- 
aries. He  promptly  replied  that  so  far  as  he  knew  they  did 
not,  and  that  he  had  not  had  them  in  mind  in  discussing  the 
questions  at  issue.     He  named  one   of   our   Peking  mission- 


2>9 

aries  as  personally  known  to  him  as  a  good  man,  and  his  aid, 

who  was  present  during  my  interview,  added  that  Mr. , 

one  of  our  Paotingfu  missionaries,  was  the  best  man  he  had 
met  in  China.  After  full  and  frank  conference  and  inquiry 
on  this  subject,  I  am  confident  and  I  have  pleasure  in  report- 
ing to  the  Board  that  the  hands  of  our  Presbyterian  mission- 
aries are  clean  as  touching  this  matter. 

INDEMNITY. 

I  am  equally  willing  to  publish  to  the  world  the  course 
of  our  missionaries  in  the  adjustment  of  indemnities.  The 
losses  have  been  heavy.  In  life,  five  missionaries,  three 
children  and  over  two  hundred  Christians  ;  in  health,  wounds 
and  bruises  and  shattered  nerves  ;  in  mind,  suspense  and 
grief  and  agony  so  prolonged  and  heart-breaking  that  some 
will  never  recover  from  its  effects  ;  in  property,  the  Board 
has  lost  all  its  valuable  plants  at  the  Peking,  Paotingfu  and 
Wei  Hsien  stations  ;  many  buildings  in  other  stations,  like 
Ichoufu,  were  damaged,  and  heavy  expense  was  incurred  in 
the  rescue  of  missionaries,  in  bringing  some  of  them  home, 
and  in  maintaining  others  at  ports  where  prices  of  living 
were  greatly  increased.  The  missionaries  of  all  the  interior 
stations  in  North  China  lost  personal  effects,  most  of  the 
members  of  the  stations  mentioned  above  losing  everything 
they  possessed,  except  the  summer  clothing  they  happened 
to  be  wearing  when  the  outbreak  occurred  ;  while  multitudes 
of  the  Chinese  Christians  were  reduced  to  utter  destitution. 

And  yet,  after  prayerful  consideration  of  all  the  circum- 
stances, our  Board,  as  far  back  as  September,  1900,  unani- 
mously voted  that"  It  would  be  highly  unbecoming  in  the 
followers  of  Christ  to  manifest  a  mercenary  spirit  and  make 
exorbitant  demands  upon  the  Chinese,  and  that  when  the 
Government  should  ask  for  information  as  to  claims  for  in- 
demnity, such  claims  should  not  include  suffering,  loss  of 
life,  or  interruption  of  work,  but  only  the  actual  value  of  de- 
stroyed or  injured  property,  and  the  extraordinary  expenses 
incurred  in  consequence  of  the  troubles." 

The  original  plan  was  to  have  all  claims,  personal  and 
mission,  approved  by  the  mission  within  whose  bounds  the 
losses  occurred,  and  sent  to  the  civil  authorities,  not  by  the 
missionaries,  but  only  through  the  Board,  which  should 
handle  them  on  behalf  of  the  missionaries,  as  well  as  of 
itself,  thus  relieving  the  individual  missionary  of  much 
trouble,  and  avoiding  the  embarrassment  to  the  Government 
which  would  have  been  involved  if  hundreds  of  widely  scat- 
tered individuals  were  to  separately  push  their  claims  with 
varying  degrees  of  vigor,  and  with  widely  different  ideas  as 
to  the  objects  which  should  be  included.     In  this  way,  we 


40 

thought,  the  vexed  question  of  indemnity  could  be  handled 
in  an  orderly  and  prudent  manner.  We  could  prevent  de- 
mands which  might  subject  the  whole  missionary  enterprise 
to  criticism,  and,  at  the  same  time,  avoid  embittering  the 
Chinese  by  taking  what  might  be  deemed  an  unfair  advan- 
tage of  them. 

With  this  moderate  position  our  missionaries  were  in  full 
sympathy.  Indeed,  the  East  and  West  Shantung  Mission, 
in  joint  meeting,  December  15th,  1900,  passed  a  special 
resolution  expressing  its  appreciation  and  gratitude.  I  have 
not  found  a  Presbyterian  missionary  in  China  who  feels  that 
any  indemnity  should  be  asked  or  received  for  punishment, 
suffering  or  death,  save  in  clearly  exceptional  cases,  where 
the  impoverishment  of  Chinese  widows  and  orphans  might 
necessitate  some  provision  for  them.  The  utmost  that  any 
have  asked,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  for  reimbursement  for  actual 
monetary  loss,  conservatively  estimated.  The  joint  meeting 
of  the  Shantung  Missions,  already  referred  to,  adopted  the 
following  : 

"  The  East  and  West  Shantung  Missions  believe, 

"  1.  That  the  Board  should  receive  indemnity  in  full  for 
all  property  destroyed,  and  for  all  extraordinary  expenses 
incurred  through  the  Boxer  disturbances. 

"2.  That  individual  missionaries  should  be  indemnified 
in  full  for  all  private  property  destroyed,  and  for  all  ex- 
penses incurred  through  the  disturbances. 

"3.  We  agree  that  such  indemnities  should  be  secured 
through  the  Board,  in  harmony  with  the  Board's  suggestion. 

"4.  We  admit'  the  principle  that  Chinese  Christians 
should  also  be  reimbursed  for  direct  losses  consequent  on 
the  Boxer   disturbances. 

"5.  In  cases  where  Chinese  who,  though  not  baptized, 
yet  suffered  losses  through  some  connection  with  Chris- 
tians, or  through  friendliness  toward  them,  or  through  pre- 
vious interest  in  the  truth,  that  each  case  be  investigated 
and  decided  on  its  merits. 

"6.  As  to  the  basis  for  reckoning  indemnity,  and  meth- 
ods for  securing  it  for  Chinese,  it  is  important, 

"a.  That  such  indemnity  be  only  sufficient  to  replace 
actual  losses  of  property.  In  cases  of  wounds  or  death,  it 
may  be  permissible  under  exceptional  circumstances  to  ask 
for  a  special  indemnity. 

"<^.  That  claims  be  settled  under  the  supervision  of  the 
missionaries,  privately  and  harmoniously  if  possible,  through 
mediators;  if  not,  then  through  the  local  magistrate.  If  this 
is  impossible,  the  case  may  finally  be  taken  to  the  Consul. 

'V.  When  settlement  could  be  secured  through  some 
abatement  of  the  claims,   the  missionaries  should  urge  the 


41 

Christians  to  accept  the  compromise,  rather  than  continue 
litigation. 

'V.  If  the  official,  in  a  spirit  of  fairness,  prefers  to  deal 
with  the  Chinese  directly,  we  should  remain  in  the  back- 
ground, giving  him  full  opportunity  to  settle  the  troubles  if 
he  can. 

'V.  Too  great  care  cannot  be  taken  to  settle  in  such  a 
way  that,  so  far  as  possible,  future  bitterness  of  feeling  be 
allayed." 

In  practice,  however,  the  Shantung  missionaries  were 
led  to  place  an  emphasis  on  'V"  and  'V"  which  resulted  in  a 
considerable  modification  of  their  declaration  in  1  and  2  that 
"indemnity  in  full"  should  be  paid.  For  many  of  the  local 
Chinese  magistrates  were  indisposed  to  wait  the  conclusion 
of  tedious  diplomatic  negotiations,  and  intimated  a  willing- 
ness and,  in  some  cases,  an  eagerness  to  settle  at  once  with 
the  individual  missionaries. 

In  the  Chihli  Province  this  local  settlement  did  not  in- 
clude the  losses  of  the  Board  or  the  missionaries,  which,  in 
compliance  with  the  request  of  the  United  States  Minister  in 
Peking,  were  filed  with  the  Legation,  December  31, 1900.  The 
claims  including  the  losses  of  the  Board  and  the  personal 
losses  of  all  the  missionaries,  save  for  one,  who  declined  to 
present  any  claim.  In  Peking,  the  original  cost  of  the 
Board's  property  was  $47,617,  gold.  But  the  prices  of  labor 
and  materials  have  so  risen  since  the  buildings  were  erected 
that  the  mission  estimated  that  it  would  cost  at  least 
$53,422  to  replace  them,  and  indemnity  was,  therefore,  asked 
in  that  sum.  The  personal  losses  of  the  fifteen  missionaries 
of  the  station  call  for  $28,323.  For  Paotingfu,  the  claims  are  : 
for  the  Board  $11,850  ;  for  personal,  $15,530,  the  latter  includ- 
ing the  hospital,  which  was  listed  as  Dr.  Atterbury's  property. 
The  estimates  for  the  Board's  losses  include,  of  course,  furni- 
ture, etc.,  as  well  as  buildings.  The  governing  principle  was 
indemnity  for  the  full  cost  of  replacing  the  destroyed  pro- 
perty, this  being  estimated  from  the  present  prices  of  mater- 
ials and  labor  to  be  about  10  per  cent,  more  that  the  original 
cost,  though  the  exact  original  cost  only  was  asked  when- 
ever there  was  reason  to  believe  that  it  would  replace  a 
given  article.  Each  item  of  the  personal  as  well  as  the 
Board  claims  was  separately  examined  and  approved  by  the 
mission,  except  in  the  case  of  two  missionaries,  who  sent 
their  personal  lists  directly  to  the  Legation  when  departing 
for  America  at  the  close  of  the  siege. 

No  losses  of  Chinese  Christians  were  filed  with  the  Lega- 
tion, save  that,  in  obedience  to  a  ruling  of  the  Legations, 
the  losses  of  native  employees  of  the  missionaries  were  sent 
in  a  separate  list.      Afterward,    a  Chinese    Imperial    Com- 


42 

mission,  appointed  by  the  Government,  requested  that  a 
statement  of  all  claims  be  sent  to  it.  With  the  approval  of 
United  States  Minister  Congfer,  the  commission  was  given  a 
copy  of  the  claim  filed  with  the  Legation,  with  the  under- 
standing that  it  was  not  thereby  withdrawn  from  the  Lega- 
tion. A  schedule  of  all  the  claims  of  Chinese  Christians 
was  also  handed  this  commission.  The  commission,  after 
examination  of  all  these  claims,  approved  them  without 
demur  just  as  they  were  presented,  referred  all  foreign 
claims  to  the  general  indemnity  fund  to  be  settled  through 
the  Legation,  and  promised  that  the  Chinese  Government 
would  pay  all  native  claims  within  three  months  directly  to 
the  Chinese  concerned. 

Meantime,  the  magistrate  of  San  Ho  Hsien  (county), 
where  more  than  half  the  losses  of  our  native  Christians 
occurred,  began  raising  money  for  them  without  any  sug- 
gestion from  the  missionaries,  and  soon  others  followed  his 
example;  so  that  now  practically  all  the  losses  of  our  native 
Christians  have  been  paid,  except  in  the  city  of  Peking, 
where,  as  indicated  above,  payment  is  promised  in  Sep- 
tember. The  losses  of  the  Peking  Christians  have  since  been 
paid  in  full. 

The  missionaries,  however,  were  by  no  means  content  to 
leave  the  native  Christians  to  deal  directly  with  the  Chinese 
oflficials.  Human  nature  is  as  strong  in  the  Chinese  as  in 
the  American,  and  w^hen  so  many  in  our  own  land  rate 
burned  household  furniture  above  its  market  value,  and 
deem  it  no  wrong  to  charge  the  government  a  little  more 
than  any  one  else,  we  can  hardly  wonder  that  some  of  the 
Chinese  fell  into  the  same  temptation,  particularly  as  the 
money  was  to  be  paid  by  those  who  had  tried  to  kill  them, 
and  who  would  kill  them  now  if  they  dared.  So  the  mis- 
sionaries wisely  felt  that  the  good  name  of  the  cause  of 
Christ  was  involved,  and  that,  as  the  appointed  leaders  of 
the  Church,  it  was  their  duty  to  see  that  no  one  of  their  flocks 
took  advantage  of  the  situation  to  obtain  more  than  was 
justly  his  due,  as  well  as  that  the  numerous  pretended  Chris- 
tians should  not  smuggle  in  fraudulent  claims  under  cover 
of  the  confusion  and  the  officials'  ignorance  of  individual 
cases.  The  mission,  therefore,  appointed  a  committee  of 
two  missionaries,  Mr.  Killie  and  Mr.  Cunningham,  and  two 
Chinese,  and  this  committee  insisted  that  all  claims  of 
native  Christians  should  be  itemized  and  presented  to  it  in 
writing.  Each  one  was  carefully  examined,  a  visit  usually 
being  made  for  this  purpose  to  the  village  where  the  claim- 
ant lived.  The  committee  was  assisted  in  determining 
values  by  a  schedule  sent  out  by  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang, 
specifying  that  a  brick  house  with   a  tiled  roof  should  be 


43 

rated  at  30  taels  for  each  room;  a  brick  house  with  straw 
roof,  25  taels  for  each  room;  a  mud  house  with  straw  roof, 
20  taels  for  each  room;  the  contents  of  the  house  in  no  case 
to  exceed  in  value  the  cost  of  the  building,  a  life  to  be  listed 
at  70  taels,  etc.      (A  tael  is  about  70  cents.) 

The  committee  labored  hard  and  conscientiously,  rigidly 
scrutinizing  each  item  presented  to  it.  Not  only  were 
claims  reduced  where  definite  proof  of  overvaluation  was 
obtained,  but  many  were  cut  down  where  proof  could  not  be 
had,  so  anxious  were  the  missionaries  that  no  extortion 
should  be  permitted.  The  Christians  were  frankly  and  yet 
kindly  told  that  it  was  better  that  they  should  suffer  some 
loss  for  Christ's  sake  than  that  their  neighbors  should  have 
any  ground  for  suspecting  that  injustice  had  been  done 
them.  Not  a  claim  was  endorsed  until  the  committee  was 
satisfied  that  it  was  not  beyond  the  actual  loss  sustained. 
No  collections  were  made  from  the  people  or  the  village 
officials,  but  solely  through  the  hsien  (county)  magistrates. 
No  visits  were  made  to  the  villages  where  the  violence  had 
been  committed  to  ask  or  to  accept  anything,  but  only  to 
verify  claims.  Not  a  cent  was  included  or  received  for  wid- 
ows, orphans,  fines,  punishment,  monuments,  tablets  or 
chapels,  except  where  a  chapel  had  been  destroyed,  and 
then,  of  course,  the  cost  of  replacing  it  was  included. 

Under  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang's  schedule  the  Mission 
Committee  might  have  collected  21,000  taels  for  loss  of  life, 
but  the  committee  refused  to  receive  a  single  tael  for  this 
purpose.  In  one  outstation,  it  was  found  that  three  families 
had  collected  1,100  taels  for  several  lives,  a  sum  which, 
by  Chinese  standards,  would  have  enriched  them  for  life. 
But  the  committee  required  the  familes  to  refund  every  tael 
to  the  official.  The  only  exception  was  the  case  of  a  Paotingfu 
widow  whose  husband  was  murdered,'  and  who  was  left  des- 
titute with  three  little  girls,  and  with  no  relative  to  help  her. 
Even  then,  no  demand  was  made,  but  Mr.  Lowrie  simply 
told  the  hsien  magistrate  about  the  case,  and  he  promptly 
provided  for  her  necessities. 

The  hsien  magistrates  appeared  to  be  not  only  relieved 
but  delighted  by  the  course  adopted  by  our  missionaries. 
One  of  them  told  Mr.  Killie  that  he  had  expected  the  claims 
to  be  three  times  as  large,  and  at  the  close  of  the  negotia- 
tions, all  the  magistrates  heartily  thanked  our  missionaries 
for  their  moderation  and  fairness.  The  Chinese  Christians 
also  accepted  in  a  beautiful  spirit  the  judgment  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  scaling  down  their  claims.  This  part  of  the 
work  required  no  little  tact  and  firmness,  and  it  is  a  remark- 
able testimony  to  the  spiritual  character  of  the  Chinese 
Christians,  as  well   as  to   the  wisdom  of  the  missionaries. 


44 

that  the  native  brethren  yielded  to  the  committee,  and  ac- 
cepted such  a  modest,  and,  in  many  instances,  partial  reim- 
bursement, when  so  many  others  were  reaping-  that  rich 
harvest  which  was  in  strict  accordance  with  hereditary  cus- 
tom and  the  universal  expectation  of  the  Chinese  them- 
selves. 

In  Shantung,  the  field  conditions,  as  the  missionaries 
found  them  on  returning  to  their  stations  in  the  spring,  led 
some  of  them  to  feel  that  no  indemnity  whatever  should  be 
received.  While  they  believed  that  both  the  Board  and  the 
missionaries  were  entitled  to  full  reimbursement,  from  the 
viewpoint  of  legal  right  and  strict  justice,  they,  neverthe- 
less, held  that,  from  the  viewpoint  of  Christian  expediency, 
it  would  be  unwise  to  accept  it.  Further  reflection  and  cor- 
respondence, however,  brought  nearly  all  of  the  missionar- 
ries  to  the  conclusion  that  the  ends  of  Christian  charity  and 
mission  influence  would  not  be  imperiled  by  their  acceptance 
of  a  reasonable  compensation  for  destroyed  property,  espec- 
ially as  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai  showed  a  disposition  to 
settle  all  claims,  foreign  as  well  as  native,  "out  of  court." 
Indeed,  his  representative,  Tao  t'ai  T'ang,  frankly  said  that 
"it  was  not  the  Governor's  desire  that  the  indemnity  should 
be  all  remitted,  but  that  should  we  see  fit  to  withdraw  some 
portion  of  it,  the  Governor  would  be  under  obligations," 
though  this  intimation  was  not  due  to  any  feeling  on  the 
part  of  the  Governor  that  the  full  amount  would  have  been 
unreasonable. 

The  missionaries,  however,  had  already  decided,  after 
much  thought  and  prayer,  to  reduce  their  claims  to  the  low- 
est point  consistent  with  reason.  The  circumstances  varied. 
At  Chiningchow,  though  the  station  was  abandoned  for  a 
year,  no  property.  Board  or  personal,  had  been  touched. 
This  was  remarkable,  as  Chiningchow  is  not  only  our  most 
distant  and  isolated  station  in  North  China,  but  it  is  in  a 
region  which  has  long  been  notorious  for  robbery  and  vio- 
lence. Nor  did  the  Chinese  Christians  seriously  suffer.  The 
elders  told  me  that  there  were  many  rumors  of  danger, 
threats  of  maltreatment  and  a  few  cases  of  blackmail,  but 
that  no  Christian  was  hurt,  and  no  one  had  his  property 
stolen  or  destroyed.  As  Mr.  Laughlin  arrived  with  me,  he 
had  not  had  time  for  full  inquiry  before  I  left.  But  no 
signs  of  loss  were  then  apparent. 

At  Ichowfu  the  buildings  were  but  slightly  injured,  but 
windows  were  broken;  locks,  door-knobs  and  many  articles 
of  furniture  were  carried  away;  pillows,  mattresses,  a  piano, 
and  in  some  cases,  the  plastering,  were  ripped  open  in  the 
search  for  valuables.  The  looting  here  was  not  done  by  the 
people,  who  have  always  been  friendly,  but  by  the  Chinese  Im- 


45 

perial  soldiers,  on  their  way  from  the  southern  provinces  to  aid 
in  the  attack  on  the  foreigners  in  Peking.  As  they  were  gov- 
ernment troops  and  marching  under  the  command  of  their 
officers,  the  missionaries  believed  that  the  government 
might  be  fairly  expected  to  make  good  the  loss.  However, 
in  order  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  and  to  give  no  possible 
ground  for  complaint,  the  estimates  were  cut  down  below 
the  actual  loss,  the  list  handed  to  the  hsien  magistrate  call- 
ing for  only  $300,  gold,  for  the  Board's  losses,  and  $4,000, 
gold,  for  the  personal  losses  of  all  seven  of  the  missionaries 
belonging  to  the  station,  though  some  of  them  had  lost 
their  all,  Mr.  Chalfant's  new  house  in  particular  having  been 
stripped  even  to  nails  and  picture  hooks. 

The  losses  of  the  Chinese  Christians  were  not  large  in 
the  aggregate,  and  were  handled  in  the  same  conservative 
manner,  each  claim  being  rigidly  scrutinized,  and  reduced  to 
a  figure  whose  reasonableness  none  could  challenge.  All 
these  claims,  foreign  and  native  have  now  been  paid. 

At  Chinanfu,  also,  comparatively  little  damage  was  done  to 
the  mission  buildings;  but,  as  in  Ichowfu,  breakages,  thefts  and 
the  extraordinary  expenses  incident  to  the  escape  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, amounted  to  over  7,000  taels.  The  same  moder- 
ation was  observed,  and  the  claim  was  scaled  down  to  5,000 
taels,  including  500  taels  for  books  belonging  to  the  Diffu- 
sion Society,  which  were  on  deposit  with  the  station.  Chin- 
anfu is  the  residence  of  the  Governor,  and  so  impressed  was 
he  by  the  spirit  of  fairness  manifested  by  the  missionaries 
that,  within  two  days  after  the  signing  of  the  agreement,  the 
amount  agreed  upon  was  paid  to  the  station   treasurer. 

The  Chinese  Christians  in  this  station  field  are  scattered 
over  eight  counties,  and  they  suffered  heavily  from  black- 
mail, looting  and  arson.  Only  three  were  murdered,  but 
several  other  deaths  occurred  from  causes  directly  traceable 
to  the  mental  and  physical  agonies  of  the  outbreak.  As  in 
other  stations,  no  effort  was  spared  by  the  missionaries  to 
keep  within  the  limits,  not  only  of  justice,  but  of  charity. 
No  attempts  were  made  to  call  to  account  the  villages 
where  the  losses  occurred,  but,  in  company  with  two  Chinese 
deputies,  designated  by  the  Governor,  Messrs.  Hamilton 
and  Murray  adjusted  all  claims  through  the  county  magis- 
trates. Everywhere  the  conferences  were  friendly.  "We 
took,"  writes  Mr.  Murray,  "the  position  of  ministers  seek- 
ing relief  for  our  suffering  people,  and  in  no  case  of  lawyers 
having  a  case.  We  made  an  occasion  to  speak  of  our  mis- 
sion, the  Church,  the  members,  their  relation  and  our  rela- 
tion, to  the  government.  We  said  plainly  and  repeatedly 
that  we  discouraged  a  spirit  of  revenge  and  of  undue'  litiga- 
tion.    In   one   or   two   cases  we  mentioned  by  name  and  act 


46 

those  who  were  unworthy,  and  said  we  could  not  make  a 
claim  for  them.  In  every  way  possible  we  sought  the  wel- 
fare of  the  name  of  the  Church,  as  well  as  the  property  and 
persons  of  the  members." 

The  care  and  conservatism  manifested  by  the  missiona- 
ries appear  in  the  fact  that  the  claims  approved  by  them 
averaged  only  50  per  cent,  of  the  reported  losses.  Mr.  Mur- 
ray adds:  "In  some  cases  of  evident  deception,  or  for  bad 
conduct  before  and  after  the  outbreak,  or  for  a  litigious 
spirit,  we  either  cut  out  entirely  or  allowed  a  low  per  cent. 
While  we  put  in  on  the  basis  of  50  per  cent.,  yet  we  held  the 
right  to  distribute  when  money  is  paid  to  us,  according  to 
circumstances.  In  connection  with  the  helpers  and  others, 
the  lists  are  again  revised;  some  got  fully  50  per  cent.; 
others  having  lands  and  other  permanent  property  will  get  a 
little  less  than  40  per  cent.;  others,  for  very  doubtful  conduct 
as  Christians  will  get  even  less.  We  had  to  do  this,  for  even 
on  the  final  count,  at  the  very  close,  in  order  to  close  up  the 
case  without  too  much  friction,  we  still  dropped,  in  some 
places,  from  the  50  per  cent.  In  such  cases,  the  worthy  per- 
sons, especially  if  poor,  got  all,  while  the  rich  and  others 
bore  the  cut.  When  the  matter  in  hand  was  decided,  the 
official  had  a  written  agreement,  which  we  all  signed.  The 
money  is  promised  to  be  paid  to  us  for  the  Christians 
through  the  Foreign  Office,  at  Chinanfu.  The  time  limit  of 
forty  and  fifty  days  was  agreed  upon.  In  one  case,  half  to 
be  paid  in  fifty  days  andhalf  intwo  months.  There  was  ob- 
jection to  it  being  paid  through  the  Foreign  Office,  the  rea- 
son given  being,  'We  don't  want  any  public  record  of  it.'  " 
All  have  now  been  paid. 

The  heaviest  loss  in  Shantung  was  at  Wei  Hsien,  where 
our  large  station  was  virtually  destroyed.  The  compound 
wall,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  breaks,  remains  intact,  and 
one  or  two  of  the  smaller  buildings  are  but  little  injured. 
But  all  the  larger  buildings  are  in  ruins,  and  the  materials 
that  can  be  saved  will  not  much  more  than  paj^  the  cost  of 
clearing  the  site  for  rebuilding.  The  actual  losses  on  the 
mission  compound,  exclusive  of  the  losses  of  Chinese  Chris- 
tians in  the  village,  are  64,421  taels  ($47,720  gold),  of  which 
33,944.40  taels  are  for  Board  property,  1,904.80  taels  for 
special  expenses  caused  by  the  outbreak  and  28,571.80  taels 
for  the  personal  losses  of  the  twelve  missionaries  belonging 
to  the  station,  all  their  clothing  and  household  effects  having 
been  totally  destroyed. 

But  the  Wei  Hsien  missionaries,  like  their  brethren  in 
other  stations  in  North  China,  were  thinking  not  so  much  of 
personal  compensation  as  of  the  interests  of  the  cause  of 
Christ.     As  one  of  them  said  in  my  hearing:     "We  are  here 


47 

to  influence  the  Chinese;  if  we  are  not,  we  had  better  go 
home.  The  efi'ect  of  our  action  upon  the  Chinese,  Chris- 
tian and  heathen,  must,  therefore,  be  of  prime  importance." 
But  in  applying  this  excellent  principle  certain  facts  had  to 
be  kept  in  mind.  On  the  one  hand,  the  missionaries  knew 
that  the  ravaged  property  must  be  rebuilt.  They  were 
aware  that  the  local  officials  were  directly  responsible  for 
this  necessity.  The  mob  had  come  from  the  city,  and  when 
it  attacked  the  station,  Mr.  Chalfant  promptly  dispatched  a 
messenger  to  the  magistrate,  asking  for  protection.  Mean- 
time, with  a  courage  which  in  the  British  army  would  have 
won  the  Victoria  Cross,  he  held  the  assailants  at  bay.  The 
magistrate  received  the  message  and  had  time  to  send  re- 
lief. But  instead  of  doing  so  he  summoned  several  of  the 
leading  men,  and  in  a  conference  they  deliberately  decided 
not  to  interfere.  In  such  circumstances  the  missionaries 
felt  that  those  who  had  so  wantonly  connived  at  the  burning 
of  the  hospitals  and  schools  and  houses  of  those  who  had 
sought  only  the  welfare  of  the  people,  should  bear  some  of 
the  cost  of  rebuilding. 

And  yet  they  saw  that  both  gentry  and  people  were  sul- 
len and  resentful,  and  that  full  indemnity  could  be  exacted 
only  by  fear  or  force.  They  became  convinced  that  such  an 
exaction  would  embitter  the  people  and  prejudice  Christian 
influence  for  decades.  So  they  decided  to  share  the  loss 
with  the  Chinese,  though  innocent  themselves  to  bear  a  part 
of  the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  in  the  hope  that  their  foes, 
moved  by  such  an  example  of  Christian  love,  would  be  con- 
ciliated toward  the  work  of  the  Master.  Accordingly,  after 
having  made  plain  to  the  Chinese  officials  that  the  bona  fide 
loss  was  64,421  taels,  they  voluntarily  reduced  their  claim  to 
45,000  taels.  Nor  did  they  simply  saddle  this  loss  on  the 
Board.  They  assigned  to  it  only  1,953  taels,  and  divided  all 
the  rest  among  themselves — four  families  and  four  single 
women  relinquishing  altogether  17,468  taels.  None  of  them 
could  afi^ord  such  a  sacrifice,  but  they  made  it  for  the  sake  of 
Christ  and  of  His  cause. 

Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai  personally  told  me  of  his  grate- 
ful appreciation  of  the  spirit  manifested  by  the  missionaries. 
When  the  revised  list  of  claims  was  presented  for  the  ap- 
proval of  his  representative,  Tao  t'ai  T'ang,  he  handed  it 
back  without  looking  at  it,  politely  saying :  "  This  is  not  a 
commercial  transaction,  and  it  would  be  discourteous  for  me 
to  read  the  list.  I  accept  the  word  of  you  gentlemen  as  to 
their  accuracy.  A  memorandum  of  the  total  will  be  all  I 
desire."  In  view  of  the  settlement,  the  Governor  readily 
agreed. 


48 

"  1st.  That  the  relinquishment  of  just  claims  be  not  made 
a  precedent  prejudicial  to  the  claims  of  others. 

"2nd.  That  the  balance  will  be  assessed  upon  those  most 
culpable  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  mission  com- 
pound. 

"  3rd.  That  a  public  statement  shall  be  made  at  Wie 
Hsien  of  the  nature  of  the  settlement. 

"4th.  That  adequate  provision  shall  be  made  for  the 
family  of  the  teacher,  Chu  Tung  Kwang,  who  was  killed  in 
the  riot. 

"5th.  That  there  shall  be  relief  from  exorbitant  prices 
in  purchase  of  land  adjacent  to  mission  compound. 

"6th.  That  there  shall  be  security  of  title  in  cases  where 
the  deeds  for  church  or  mission  property  were  destroyed  or 
stolen." 

Conditions  4  and  5  were  complied  with  June  1st.  The 
first  instalment  of  the  indemnity,  20,000  taels,  has  already 
been  paid,  and  the  Governor  has  given  a  written  guaranty, 
stamped  with  the  official  seal  of  the  Foreign  Office  of  the 
provincial  capital,  that  the  balance  will  be  forthcoming  be- 
fore next  February.  The  entire  indemnity  has  now  been 
paid. 

The  losses  of  the  Chinese  Christians  in  the  many  out- 
stations  of  the  great  Wei  Hsien  field  were  adjusted  in  the 
same  careful  way  as  at  the  other  stations  already  described. 

In  the  East  Shantung  Mission  no  mission  property  was 
destroyed,  as  all  three  stations,  Tengchow,  Chefoo  and 
Tsingtau,  are  on  the  coast.  Tengchow  had  to  be  abandoned 
for  a  time,  and  the  Chefoo  missionaries  on  Temple  Hill,  two 
miles  back  from  the  water  front,  had  to  move  dowm  to  the 
beach  in  readiness  for  instant  departure  on  a  junk  which  was 
kept  anchored  off  shore.  But  their  houses  were  not  molested; 
and  the  stations  were  soon  reoccupied.  The  Chinese  Chris- 
tians in  the  scattered  outstations  suffered  greatly,  in  com- 
mon with  their  brethren  in  other  places.  But  in  every  case 
the  matter  was  settled  by  the  local  officials,  the  missionaries 
adopting  substantially  the  same  methods  of  close,  detailed 
investigation,  reduction  of  claims  within  actual  losses,  and 
negotiations  solely  with  officials,  so  that  there  was  no  intimi- 
dating of  helpless  villagers,  no  collection  of  money  under 
promise  of  protection. 

"How  are  the  funds  for  these  indemnities  to  be  raised?" 
I  ventured  to  frankly  ask  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai.  "We 
wish  the  Chinese  to  feel,"  I  continued,  "that  we  are  their 
friends,  and  that  we  are  sharing  the  loss  with  them.  Many 
of  our  American  Christians  who  support  this  work  are  com- 
paratively poor.  We  have  many  financial  burdens  and  we 
are  straitened  for  funds.     But  we  would  rather  bear  the  en- 


49 

tire  loss  ourselves  than  to  have  the  indemnity  wrung  frorri 
the  innocent,  or  even  to  have  the  guilty  impoverished.  Our 
religion  teaches  us  to  suffer  for  others  as  our  Master,  Christ, 
has  suffered  vicariously  for  us  all,  and  we  do  not  desire  the 
payment  of  indemnity  to  be  pressed  in  any  way  which  will 
make  the  people  smart  under  a  sense  of  injustice." 

The  Governor,  who,  by  the  way,  impressed  me  as  one  of 
the  ablest  public  men  I  have  ever  met,  listened  with  pro- 
found attention,  and  then  heartily  thanked  me  for  expressing 
such  sentiments,  and  said  that  they  were  quite  in  accord 
with  the  position  which  has  been  taken  by  our  missionaries. 
He  stated  that  the  Chinanfu  indemnity  had  been  paid  out  of 
money  which  was  then  lying  in  the  provincial  treasury.  As 
for  the  Wei  Hsien  indemnity,  he  had  sent  a  deputy  to  that 
city  to  make  a  careful  investigation  as  to  the  responsibility 
for  the  outrages,  which  he  deeply  deplored.  As  far  as  pos- 
sible, the  money  would  be  collected  from  the  guilty  parties. 
Of  course,  if  enough  could  not  be  secured  from  them,  the 
balance  would  have  to  be  raised  by  general  taxation  upon 
the  region  which  had  furnished  the  mob,  but  he  anticipated 
no  dii^culty,  because  some  of  the  ofTficials  and  gentry  had 
permitted  or  encouraged  the  destruction,  and  he  "proposed 
to  make  those  who  had  used  their  mouths  pay  as  well  as 
those  who  had  used  their  hands."  So  the  sum  would  be 
easily  collected. 

There  is  reason  to  fear,  however,  that  the  collections 
will  not  be  so  smoothly  effected  as  the  good  Governor  desires. 
It  could  be  if  our  losses  were  the  only  ones,  or  if  they  could 
be  collected  separately,  but,  the  German  Railroad  Company 
has  filed  a  claim  for  a  million  taels,  on  account  of  damage 
done  to  its  property  and  interests,  while  there  are  additional 
claims  by  the  German  mining  and  railway  engineers  who 
were  scattered  over  the  province,  and  particularly  by  the 
Roman  Catholics,  who  are  very  numerous  in  Shantung,  with 
three  dioceses  and  much  valuable  property,  including  ex- 
pensive cathedrals,  schools,  orphanages,  etc.  Some  of  the 
priests  never  left  the  interior,  but  purchased  ample  supplies 
of  food,  rifles  and  ammunition,  armed  their  Christians,  forti- 
fied themselves,  and  fought  the  trouble  through  with  vigor 
and  success.  Now  they  invite  the  Chinese  to  foot  the  bills, 
and  they  do  not  deem  it  their  duty,  either,  to  scale  them 
down.  On  the  contrary,  they  propose  to  make  their  foes 
pay  up,  and  pay,  too,  not  only  for  the  actual  loss,  but  with 
a  liberal  allowance  for  the  trouble  which  they  have  caused. 
At  Yenchowfu  I  saw  a  stately  cathedral  approaching  comple- 
tion, the  funds  having  come  from  the  indemnity  paid  for  the 
murder  of  two  priests  in  1897.  This  is  the  German  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  policy — to  make    the  Chinese  pay  heavily 


5P 

for  every  attack,  and  to  show  them  that  a  destroyed  building 
means  a  far  larger  and  costlier  one  in  its  place.  There  is 
not  the  slightest  doubt  that  they  will  adopt  the  same  course 
in  the  present  instance. 

And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  our  Presbyterian  claims  are 
a  mere  bagatelle  in  the  grand  total  which  the  people  of  Shan- 
tung are  expected  to  pay,  while  as  for  the  Chili  losses,  the 
aggregate  for  not  only  all  the  Protestant  and  Catholic  mis- 
sions, but  for  tile  Legations  and  foreign  business  interests, 
and  the  political,  military  and  naval  damages  is  so  enor- 
mous that  our  modest  and  conscientious  Presbyterian  claims 
sink  out  of  sight.  And  now,  on  top  of  all  this,  comes  an  or- 
der for  a  higher  assessment,  to  provide  for  the  increased  ex- 
penditures of  the  exiled  court,  a  huge  sum  in  itself. 

It  will,  therefore,  be  difficult  to  give  our  conservative  pol- 
icy its  intended  moral  effect  upon  the  Chinese,  except  as  lo- 
cal communities  are  convinced  by  the  individual  missionaries 
whom  they  know  and  trust.  A  general  tax  will  be  collected; 
has,  indeed  already  been  imposed.  That  tax,  while  small 
per  capita  in  our  eyes,  will  not  be  small  to  the  thrifty  and 
parsimonious  Chinese  who  are  always  on  the  verge  of  starva- 
tion, especially  as  it  will  fall  upon  multitudes  who  took  no 
part  in  the  uprising.  It  is  urged  that  the  outbreak  was  so 
general  that  the  whole  community  may  justly  be  held  ac- 
countable, but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  informed  that  near 
Wei  Hsien,  some  people  who  did  not  even  know  till  after- 
ward that  the  station  was  attacked,  are  now  being  ordered  to 
help  pay  for  the  damage.  Even  Americans  raise  a  hue  and 
cry  over  an  increase  in  taxes,  and  in  China  the  universal  an- 
tipathy to  such  increase  is  in  this  instance  intensified  by  the 
poverty  of  the  people  and  the  knowledge  that  the  money  will 
go  to  the  foreigner. 

The  motives  of  the  local  magistrates  in  promptly  taking 
up  the  question  of  indemnity  with  the  missionaries  in  their 
respective  districts  may  be  variously  interpreted.  It  would 
be  too  much  to  assume  that  all  these  oflficials  have  suddenly 
become  friends  of  the  foreigner,  and  it  would  be  contrary  to 
human  nature  to  suppose  that  so  many  men  are  eager  to 
make  restitution  from  purely  conscience-stricken  considera- 
tion. Some  enlightened  officials,  indeed,  sincerely  lament 
the  mistaken  policy  of  the  Boxers,  and  at  the  time  did  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  check  it.  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai 
even  going  so  far  in  his  effort  to  protect  the  foreigners  in 
vShantung  as  to  jeopardize  his  own  life.  Others,  like  those 
in  Paotingfu,  have  come  into  office  since  the  troubles,  and 
are  not,  therefore,  to  blame  for  them.  In  many  places,  like 
Ichowfu  and  Chiningchow,  the  people  bore  no  ill-will  toward 
the    missionaries,    and  were  kindly    disposed  toward  them. 


51 

Even  at  Wei  Hsien,  a  heathen  muleteer,  at  the  risk  of  his 
life,  helped  Miss  Boughton  and  Miss  Hawes  to  escape.  There 
were  many  instances  of  great  kindness  shown  to  the  mission- 
aries by  their  non-Christian  neighbors,  and  there  are  many 
now  who  deeply  deplore  the  atrocities  of  last  year,  and  are 
glad  to  do  what  they  can  to  atone  for  them. 

Nevertheless,  the  great  body  of  the  people  of  all  classes, 
including  presumably  the  friendly  officials,  unquestion- 
ably feel  that  China  has  reason  to  dislike  the  foreigner.  They 
wish  that  the  movement  to  expel  him  from  the  country  had  suc- 
ceeded, and  they  would  revive  it  to-morrow  if  they  thought  it 
could  accomplish  its  purpose.  But  the  more  sagacious  offi- 
cials now  see  that  the  foreigner  is  here  to  stay,  and  they  are 
shrewd  enough  to  see  that  it  would  be  better  to  have  him 
stay  as  a  friend  than  as  a  formidable  enemy.  They  want  him 
to  take  away  his  regiments  and  warships,  so  that  he  will  va- 
cate their  palaces,  and  so  that  their  Emperor  can  return  to 
his  capital,  and  they  imagine  that  he  will  do  this  as  soon  as  they 
settle  up.  They  know  that  indemnity  will  have  to  be  paid. 
Apart  from  any  demands  from  the  foreigner,  such  payment 
is  in  accordance  with  immemorial  Chinese  custom,  and  offi- 
cials and  people  alike  have  not  the  slightest  idea  that  they 
can  escape  it.  In  such  circumstances,  it  is  the  inevitable  and 
invariable  course  in  this  land  to  offer  a  financial  compensa- 
tion for  injuries.  They  know  that  if  this  indemnity  is  paid 
through  the  Government  in  Peking,  their  share  of  it  will  not 
only  be  levied  upon  them,  but  "two  or  three  fold"  more,  to 
cover  what  the  Chinese  euphemistically  term,  "charges  for 
collecting,"  for  the  official  "squeeze"  is  accepted  as  a  matter 
of  course  in  China,  and  the  very  thought  of  the  long  line  of 
official  hands  through  which  an  indemnity  would  have  to  pass 
from  Wei  Hsien  via  Peking  to  Berlin,  London,  St.  Peters- 
burg and  Washington,  frightens  the  local  magistrate,  who  be- 
lieves that,  in  order  to  get  45,000  taels  to  the  missionaries  by 
such  a  circuitous  route  he  would  probably  be  mulcted  145,000. 
The  missionaries  are  in  his  district.  He  knows  them  to  be 
kindly,  fair-minded  men,  and  he,  therefore,  prefers  to  deal  di- 
rectly with  them.  Indeed,  he  is  eager  to  do  so.  In  some  in- 
stances, he  does  not  wait  for  the  presentation  of  claims  but 
presses  the  money  upon  them,  and  when  they  accept  it  and 
give  him  a  receipt,  he  is  relieved  and  delighted  at  his  good 
fortune  in  getting  off  so  easily.  In  the  Canton  Mission,  the 
local  magistrate  not  only  paid  the  claims  with  alacrity,  but 
sent  presents  to  the  missionary  in  token  of  his  gratitude. 
Doubtless,  all  these  motives,  with  varying  degrees  of  em- 
phasis in  diiferent  localities,  have  operated  in  bringing  about 
the  settlement  of  claims. 

Should  the  missionary  accept  the  indemnity  in  such  cir- 


5^ 

eumstances?  Some  say,  No.  Three  of  our  own  missionaries 
in  North  China  declined  to  file  any  claims  for  themselves, 
though  they  did  so  for  the  Board.  Several  others  asked  re- 
imbursement for  only  half  their  losses.  I  am  informed  that 
the  China  Inland  Mission,  and  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  have,  as  Mission  Boards,  taken  the  same 
ground  and  will  ask  the  home  churches  to  make  good  their 
losses  and  those  of  the  missionaries.  One  of  our  missionar- 
ies forcefully  presents  the  argument  for  this  view  in  a  way 
which  should  interest  those  who  imagine  that  all  mission- 
aries are  demanding  indemnity. 

His  views  may  be  summorized  as  follows: — 

1.  Though  as  citizens  entitled  to  such  indemnity,  yet 
there  is  a  higher  law  than  legal  right. 

2.  The  disciples  began  and  carried  on  their  work,  expect- 
ing, but  neither  seeking  nor  avoiding  persecution.  Paul's 
assertion  of  his  Roman  citizenship  at  Philippi  and  Jerusalem 
was  simply  arguing  for  protection  not  indemnity. 

3.  The  renunciation  of  just  claims  would  emphasize  to 
the  Chinese  government  the  difference  between  the  Church 
and  the  covetous  "  powers  ". 

4.  A  forced  indemnity  will  irritate  officials  and  people, 
while  its  renunciation  will  impress  them  with  Christian  gen- 
erosity. 

5.  Relinquishment  will  teach  the  Chinese  Church  a  use- 
ful lesson. 

6.  The  sacrifice  demanded  of  the  American  Church  by 
relinquishment  will  stimulate  spirituality. 

While  the  majority  of  missionaries  in  China  apparently 
heartily  agree  with  these  arguments  in  the  main,  yet  they 
do  not  feel  that  his  conclusion  necessarily  follows. 

So  far  as  I  can  judge  from  what  I  have  learned  in  China, 
the  majority  of  the  missionaries  of  all  denominations,  while 
heartily  agreeing  with  much  that  Mr.  Davies  has  so  eloquent- 
ly urged,  do  not  feel  that  his  conclusion  necessarily  follows. 
They  believe  that  Christian  justice  and  security  for  the  fu- 
ture demand  some  payment.  An  apparently  small  minority 
of  our  missionaries,  and  a  considerable  majority  of  the  mis- 
sionaries of  some  other  Boards,  feel  that  indemnity  should 
be  full,  and  with  something  over,  for  moral  effect.  They 
insist  that  it  will  not  do  in  China  any  more  than  in  America 
to  allow  the  vicious  to  imagine  that  they  can  burn  and  steal 
and  rape  and  murder — violate  all  laws,  human  and  divine — 
and  then,  without  any  sign  of  true  repentance,  be  freely 
forgiven.  That  would  be  casting  pearls  before  swine  with 
a  vengeance.  Nor  will  it  suffice,  they  argue,  to  give  the 
criminals  the  idea  that  the  payment  of  enough  to  rebuild  a 
burned  house  will  atone  for  everything,  while   the    foreign 


53  i 

occupant  endures  all  the  hardship  and  suffering  and  the  in- 
nocent widows  and  orphans  of  the  slaughtered  Chinese 
Christians  are  left  to  starve.  The  criminals  will  pay, 
chuckle  in  their  sleeve  at  getting  off  so  easily,  and  burn  the 
house  again  at  the  first  opportunity.  They  must  be  made 
to  understand  that  such  outrages  will  not  be  tolerated,  and 
the  only  way  to  make  them  understand  is  to  touch  them  at 
the  only  point  where  the  Chinese  are  sensitive  —  the  pocket. 
They  will  stop  pillaging  mission  property  and  murdering 
women  and  children  if  they  find  that  such  amusements  come 
high.  It  is  to  the  real  interests  of  the  Chinese  themselves, 
we  are  told,  that  they  should  be  taught  this  lesson.  There 
is  no  hope  for  China  until  this  lesson  is  learned,  and  it  will 
be  mistaken  kindness  if  a  false  sentimentalism  prevents  us 
from  adopting  a  stern  but  eminently  just  policy  at  this  time. 
Influenced  by  some  such  considerations  as  these,  some  of 
the  missionaries  of  some  of  the  other  Protestant  Boards,  the 
Roman  Catholics  quite  generally,  and,  of  course,  the  busi- 
ness and  political  foreigners,  have  exacted  not  only  the  full 
amount  of  their  monetary  loss,  but  an  additional  sum  of 
varying  proportions,  as  a  fine,  or  for  widows  and  orphans, 
or  for  monuments  or  memorial  buildings.  I  am  credibly 
informed  that  some  non-missionary  civilians  have  included 
in  their  claims  $5,000  for  wardrobe.  In  several  cases  val- 
uable land  has  been  purchased  for  a  merely  nominal  sum 
from  owners  who  were  too  frightened  to  insist  on  a  fair 
price,  while  in  one  city  that  I  visited  the  priests  were  com- 
pelling the  terrified  people  to  labor  without  compensation  in 
extensive  rebuilding  operations.  It  is  not  for  me  to  judge 
the  Roman  Catholics  who  have  adopted  this  policy,  and 
whose  splendid  cathedrals  I  saw  rising  in  more  than  one 
city  with  the  proceeds  of  a  "punitive"  indemnity.  Nor 
must  I  be  understood  as  criticizing  my  brethren  of  other 
Protestant  bodies  who  have  seen  fit  to  adopt  a  modified  phase 
of  the  same  policy.  They  are  highminded,  Christian  men, 
who  are  acting  from  a  lofty  sense  of  duty,  whose  personal 
sacrifices  for  the  Chinese  are  notable,  and  whose  judgment 
is  backed  by  many  years'  experience  in  dealing  with  Asiatics. 
The  question  is  not  one  of  essential  right  or  wrong,  but  of 
expediency  and  judgment.  Every  day,  in  America,  courts 
award  damages  for  slander  and  accidental  injuries  and  no 
one  objects.  In  Indiana,  the  Christian  Governor  Mount, 
with  the  approval  of  the  press  of  the  whole  country,  proposed 
a  law  assessing  heavy  damages  upon  any  county  in  which 
mob  violence  occurred.  Everybody  knew  that  ninety-nine 
one-hundredths  of  the  population  of  such  a  county  would  be 
innocent,  but  it  was  deemed  just  to  hold  the  public  account- 
able for    what    it  tolerated.     Why,    then,  should    honorable 


54 

Christian  men  in  China  be  malijjned  for  conscientiously  be- 
lieving that  the  Chinese  must  be  convinced  by  just  penalty 
and  treaty  rights  must  be  respected  and  human  lives  held 
sacred  ?  In  a  letter  to  me,  which  I  have  permission  to  pub- 
lish, Sir  Robert  Hart  writes  : 

"As  regards  recent  occurrences  in  China,  and  more 
especially  in  and  around  Peking,  you  wish  me  to  say  whether 
there  has  been  anything  in  the  action  or  attitude  of  mis- 
sionaries in  respect  of  indemnity  claims,  punitive  measures 
and  looting, |]to  justify  the  scolding  and  abuse  which  some 
writers^and- speakers  have  indulged  in.  This  opens  up  a 
very  large  question,  and  you  will  get  a  diiferent  answer  from 
every  man  you  apply  to.  So  many  societies,  congregations 
and  individuals  are  concerned  that  thorough  justice  could 
only  be  looked  for  by  treating  of  eachoneseparately.  Neither 
the  information  at  my  command,  nor  my  time,  will  admit  of 
that,  however,  and  I  doubt  if  anything  short  of  that  would 
be  convincing  or  satisfactory. 

"The  experience  we  are  emerging  from  has  been  a  try- 
ing one,  and  at  every  step  the  progressive  nature  3f  con- 
sciousness forced  one  to  recognize  how  principle  must  per- 
meate circumstance,  and  how  circumstance  must  interpret 
principle.  Considering  the  terrible  and  uncalled-for  suffer- 
ing Chinese  action  caused  people,  sufferers  are  entitled  to 
the  fullest  indemnification.  While  this  right  is  beyond  all 
question,  there  are  some  who  think  the  positive  good  likely 
to  follow  renunciation  would  prove  a  greater  blessing  than 
the  deterrent  effects  of  a  heavy  fine.  I  think  it  is  a  matter 
for  the  individual  conscience  to  settle.  If  circumstances 
guide  conscience  into  demanding  the  utmost  farthing,  it  is 
right  to  demand  it.  And  if  the  man  who  teaches  the  people 
to  pray,  '  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors,  ' 
prefers  to  act  accordingly  and  forgive,  he  need  not  fear  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  will  not  follow  the  object  lesson.  Some 
claims,  however,  are  said  to  be  excessive,  and  if  such  be  the 
case,  to  satisfy  them  will  in  the  end  carry  its  own  punish- 
ment with  it.  Missionaries  do  not  lose  their  civil  rights  on 
ordination;  on  the  contrary,  and  perhaps  all  the  more  so,  if 
they  in  Christian  charity  are  willing  to  forego  them  their 
national  authorities  ought  to  see  in  the  renunciation  of  the 
individual  all  the  greater  reason  for  enforcing  what  the  com- 
munity respects  as  a  right.  Principle  and  circumstance  are 
so  intertwined  that,  admirable  as  it  is,  even  renunciation 
must  cease  to  be  Christian  when  it  ceases  to  be  politic,  and 
therefore  the  constituted  authorities  ought  to  be  saddled  with 
the  responsibility  of  decision.  " 

But  while  I  refuse  to  join  those  who  so  unjustly  assail  de- 
voted men  who  have  acted  from  pure  motives,  my  own  con- 


55 

victions  are  a  mean  between  the  two  views  outlined  above. 
I  would  neither  renounce  everything,  on  the  one  hand,  nor 
demand  everything,  on  the  other.  Perhaps  I  may  define 
my  position  as  follows  : 

From  the  political  viewpoint,  the  missionary  is  a  citizen, 
and  he  has  the  same  rights  to  indemnity  for  life  and  prop- 
erty as  any  other  citizen.  He  cannot  yield  this  point,  or 
permit  any  one  to  deprive  him  of  his  full  status  as  an  Amer- 
ican citizen.  If  it  is  lawful  for  a  business  man  to  demand 
an  indemnity,  it  is  lawful  for  a  missionary  to  demand  it. 
He  is  no  more  objectionable  to  the  Chinese  than  the  trader. 
He  is  under  the  protection  of  the  same  treaties,  and  our 
Goverment  has  no  right  to  discriminate  between  its  citizens 
when  they  are  engaged  in  legitimate  undertakings. 

But  whether  he  should  receive  indemnity  is  a  question 
not  of  political  right  but  of  Christian  expediency,  to  be  de- 
termined not  for  him  but  by  him,  and  by  him  not  from  the 
viewpoint  of  legal  status  or  commercial  transaction,  but  of 
the  higher  law  of  divine  love.  He  should  remember  with 
Paul  that  "all  things  are  lawful,  but  all  things  are  not  ex- 
pedient. "  Most  of  us  have  rights  which  we  do  not  deem 
it  prudent  to  exercise.  Without  waiving  them,  we  volun- 
tarily hold  them  in  abeyance,  because  to  insist  upon  them 
would  "  edify  not.  "  There  are  some  things  that  I  will  give 
away  that  I  will  not  sell.  The  bearing  of  idemnity  upon 
the  cause  of  Christ  should,  therefore,  be  considered  from 
this  viewpoint: 

I  do  not  believe  it  to  be  expedient  to  ask  or  to  accept  in- 
demnity for  life.  We  should  place  no  money  value  upon 
the  lives  of  our  martyred  dead,  not  because  they  were  worth- 
less, but  because  they  were  priceless.  There  must  be  no 
haggling  about  the  cost  of  blood.  We  do  not  wish  the 
Chinese  to  feel  that  a  missionary's  life  can  be  estimated  in 
dollars  and  cents.  Christ  plainly  warned  His  followers  that 
"  they  shall  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted  and  shall  kill  you, 
and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations,  for  My  name's  sake." 
The  missionary  goes  forth  knowing  this,  and  if,  like  his  Mas- 
ter, he  suffers  death,  it  is  not  for  us  to  send  a  bill  to  Caesar. 

Nor  would  I  accept  indemnity,  even  if  it  were  offered,  for 
physical  or  mental  suffering.  Stripes  and  imprisonments, 
tears,  and  travail,  have  from  the  beginning  been  a  part  of  the 
risk  accepted  by  the  true  missionary.  The  apostles  did  not 
sue  their  persecutors  for  damages,  while  the  Lord  Himself, 
when  invited  to  reply  to  His  accusers,  opened  not  His  mouth. 

As  to  indemnity  for  property,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
same  principle  holds.  But  Christian  expediency  is  not  bound 
by  logic  any  more  than  by  law.  At  any  rate,  on  its  ground, 
I  recognize  a  difference  between  life  and  property.     If  I  am 


56 

chargfcd  with  inconsistency,  I  reply  that  within  the  limits  of 
my  right,  I  can  do  as  I  please,  and  I  please  to  distinguish 
blood  from  bricks. 

So  I  hold  that  if  indemnity  for  property  is  conceded  by 
the  Chinese,  who  pay  it,  to  be  just  and  fair,  and  if  it  is  willingly 
paid,  I  would  accept  it  in  any  sum  not  exceeding  the  actual 
loss  sustained.  Some  of  the  North  China  magistrates  wanted 
to  settle  with  the  missionary  to  avoid  the  otherwise  certain 
extortion  of  a  far  larger  sum  through  the  Powers,  and  to 
have  refused  would  have  disappointed  and  irritated  them,  as 
it  would  simply  have  forced  them  into  the  hands  of  the  cor- 
ruptionij^t.  But  if  indemnity  must  be  exacted  by  force,  if  it 
is  prompted  by  fear,  if  it  impoverishes  the  innocent,  if  its  col- 
lection would  embitter  the  people  against  the  cause  we  love, 
if  there  is  ground  for  believing  that  self-sacrifice  would  open 
hearts  now  closed,  if  the  native  Christians  show  a  spirit  of 
greed  or  revenge  and  need  an  example  of  self-denial  for 
Jesus'  sake — in  these  contingencies,  I  say,  I  would  remit  so 
much  of  a  just  and  lawful  claim  as  would  suffice  to  avert  such 
results,  even  if  I  had  to  relinquish  all  of  it. 

To  the  argument  that  the  Chinese  do  not  appreciate 
magnanimity,  that  they  would  interpret  it  as  weakness,  and 
feel  that  they  had  license  to  destroy,  I  replied : 

a.  It  is  safer  and  better  to  assume  that  the  heathen  is  a 
man  who  does  understand  kindness  and  self-sacrifice,  and 
who  will  be  influenced  by  it.  The  human  heart  is  essentially 
the  same  the  world  over. 

b.  If  the  Chinese  do  not  vmderstand  magnanimity,  let  us 
teach  it  to  them,  by  example  as  well  as  by  precept.  That  is 
what  we  are  there  for.  That  is  the  way  Christ  taught  us 
when  we  were  as  dull  of  comprehension  as  the  Chinese. 

c.  Even  if  it  were  true  that  the  Chinese  cannot  be  made 
to  understand  charity  and  self-sacrifice,  it  does  not  follow 
that  we  should  abandon  our  Christian  principles.  We  should 
not  become  bullies  because  others  may  know  only  the  argu- 
ment of  brute  strength. 

Since  so  much  depends  upon  the  local  circumstances  and 
the  local  feeling  in  a  particular  district,  which  may  differ 
widely  from  those  in  the  adjacent  province,  the  Board  should 
content  itself  with  fixing  the  general  principle  of  indemnity 
only  in  such  sums  within  the  actual  cost  of  replacing  dam- 
aged property  and  the  special  expenses  caused  by  the  out- 
break as  the  law  of  Christian  expediency  may  dictate,  and 
the  determination  af  this  sum  should  be  left,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, to  the  discretion  of  the  missionaries  upon  the  ground 
in  consultation  with  and  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  mis- 
sion to  which  they  belong.  Any  error  of  an  individual  will 
thus  be  corrected  by  his  colleagues,  who  are  as  competent  as 


57 

he  is  to  judf^e  of  tendencies  and  effects.  The  missionaries, 
living:  as  they  do  among  the  people,  speaking  their  language, 
personally  knowing  them,  are  properly  the  ones  to  intelli- 
gently gauge  their  sentiment. 

But  if  the  missionaries  recommend  remission,  either  in 
whole  or  in  part,  it  should  be  with  the  distinct  understand- 
ing on  their  part  that  they  are  to  share  in  the  loss  by  making 
a  pro  rata  reduction  upon  their  own  claims.  The  moral 
effect  of  reduction  will  be  lost  upon  both  people  and  native 
Christians  unless  the  missionaries  offer  to  bear  their  pro- 
portion with  them.  The  Board  may  endeavor,  in  its  discre- 
tion, to  relieve  the  missionary  of  this  personal  burden,  but  it 
should  not  guarantee  to  do  so.  I  believe  that  ordinarily  it 
will  be  wiser  for  the  Chinese,  the  native  Christians,  the  mis- 
sionaries and  the  Board,  to  share  the  loss,  than  it  will  be  to 
force  any  one  party  to  bear  it  all.  As  for  the  Christian  at 
home  who  declares  that  the  Board  ought  not  to  receive  any 
indemnity  whatever,  I  would  invite  him  to  subscribe. 

Holding  the  above  views,  I  am,  naturally,  very  much 
gratified  to  find  that  our  Presbyterian  missionaries  have,  for 
the  most  past,  independently  adopted  this  middle  course,  and 
while  I  respect  honored  brethren  of  other  Boards  who,  from 
motives  as  pure  as  ours,  followed  a  different  course,  I  re- 
joice that  our  own  workers  stand  squarely  upon  the  ground 
of  Christian  expediency  as  interpreted  by  the  law  of  charity 
and  self-sacrifice.  They  would  be  the  last  to  expect  any 
credit  for  this  above  their  fellows.  Almost  ev^ry  missionary 
in  North  China  is  poorer  because  of  the  Boxer  outbreak. 
Some  have  suffered  in  money,  some  in  health,  some  in 
loved  ones.  Those  who  have  borne  most  know  that  their 
brethren  who  have  borne  less  would  have  cheerfully  endured 
as  much  if  their  peculiar  circumstances  had  called  for  the 
larger  sacrifice.  Those  of  us  who  were  providentially  in 
places  of  safety  can  say  with  one  who  was  at  home  on  fur- 
lough : 

"  In  spirit,  I  have  suffered  with  those  whose  goods  and 
shelter  have  been  destroyed.  I  have  wandered  with  the 
homeless  Chinese  Christians.  I  have  felt  the  agony  of  a 
strong  man  overpowered  in  defense  of  those  dearer  than  his 
life.  I  have  stood  beside  that  Christian  mother  who  saw 
father  and  children  and  grandchildren  slain  before  her  eyes. 
The  unutterable  shame  of  outraged  Christian  womanhood 
has  burned  into  my  soul." 

I  thank  God  for  what  m\^  eyes  have  seen  and  my  ears 
have  heard  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
is  this  troubled  land.  So  far  as  hostile  criticism  is  directed 
against  them,  I  am  prepared  to  meet  it.  The  home  church 
has  no  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  its  representatives  in  China. 


58 

I  question,  however,  whether  some  of  them  are  not  bear- 
ing more  than  their  share  of  financial  loss.  They  have  as- 
sumed the  burden  of  their  own  accord,  and  when  I  have  inti- 
mated my  feeling  that  the  church  at  home  ought  to  help 
some  of  them,  they  have  replied  that  this  would  prejudice 
their  influence  over  both  Chinese  officials  and  native  Chris- 
tians, who  suppose  that  the  missionaries  are  suffering  with 
them.  They  say  that,  sifter  using  their  own  example  to  in- 
duce the  Christians  to  acquiesce  in  only  partial  indemnity  for 
Christ's  sake,  they  would  be  placed  in  an  embarrassing  posi- 
tion if  all  their  own  losses  were  made  good  from  America. 
I  grant  the  force  of  this  objection,  and  I  believe,  as  I  have 
already  indicated,  that  the  missionary  who  advises  others  to 
reduce  their  claims  should  reduce  his  own  in  the  same  ratio. 
Nevertheless,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  missionaries  who 
have  relinquished  a  half  or  more  are  going  farther  than  can 
reasonably  be  expected.  Their  willingness  is  worthy  of  all 
praise,  but  I  hope  that  the  Board  can  obtain  some  special 
gifts  which  will  make  the  distribution  of  losses  more  equit- 
able. An  equitable  adjustment  has  since  been  made  by  the 
Board. 

What  attitude  the  Board  should  take  toward  its  propor- 
tion of  the  national  indemnity  of  450,000,000  taels,  to  be 
paid  in  4  per  cent,  bonds  to  each  power  according  to  its 
claim,  may,  it  seems  to  me,  be  determined  by  the  principles 
already  enunciated,  if  they  commend  themselves  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Board.  That,  is  if  our  part  of  that  indemnity 
is  recognized  by  the  Chinese  as  reasonable,  if  it  is  not  for 
life  or  for  hardship,  but  only  for  expenditure,  and  if  it  will 
not  embitter  the  Chinese  against  us,  I  see  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  receive  it  if  it  is  offered.  But  if  it  has  to  be  ex- 
acted by  military  power,  I  would  not  touch  it.  After  having 
talked  not  only  with  many  foreigners,  but  scores  of  Chinese 
officials,  on  this  subject,  I  believe  that  the  course  of  our 
national  administration  is  in  harmony  with  the  conditions 
which  I  have  enumerated.  It  is  plain  to  every  one  here  that 
China  feels  that  America  has  been  her  best  friend  in  the 
recent  trials.  vShe  knows  that  America  tried  to  reduce  the 
indemnity  to  the  lowest  practicable  sum,  and  there  is  no  part 
of  that  indemnity  which  the  Chinese  will  pay  more  ungrudg- 
ingly than  the  part  which  goes  to  the  United  States.  The 
details  of  payment  are  not  settled  yet,  but  as  they  will  be 
known  to  the  Board  by  telegraph  before  this  report  can 
reach  New  York,  I  need  not  enter  the  subject  here  further 
than  to  state  that  the  bonds  are  likely  to  run  for  thirty  years, 
and  that,  as  the  customs  receipts  are  already  mortgaged,  and 
as  a  joint  guarantee  by  the  Powers  appears  at  this  writing 
to   be   improbable,    the    market   value  of  the  bonds  will  be 


59 

chiefly  determined  by  the  disposition  of  each  Power  to 
guarantee  its  own.  If  our  Government  does  this,  the  in- 
demnity will  probably  become  available  in  about  a  year  and 
a  half,  and  the  whole  should  be  realized  within  three  years. 
At  least,  this  is  the  opinion  of  a  gentleman  in  Peking  whose 
knowledge  of  the  situation  and  whose  relation  to  the  Chinese 
Government  entitle  his  judgment  to  great  weight. 

RELATION    OF  MISSIONARIES  TO  THE  CIVIL  POWER. 

The  relation  of  the  foreign  missionary  to  the  consular  and 
diplomatic  representatives  of  his  own  government  is  another 
topic  of  special  interest  at  this  time.  In  answer  to  an  inquiry 
by  the  Rev.  Paul  D.  Bergen,  seventy-three  missionaries,  of 
from  five  to  thirty  years'  experience,  and  representing  many 
of  the  Protestant  Boards,  reported  a  total  of  only  fifty-two 
applications,  through  Consul  or  minister,  on  behalf  of  native 
Christians,  though  the  inquiry  did  not  cover  applications  on 
their  own  behalf,  which  were  presumably  few.  On  this  sub- 
ject, also,  I  find  that  our  missionaries  take  conservative 
ground.  Indeed,  a  few  would  adopt  the  policy  of  wholly  ab- 
rogating appeals  to  the  civil  power.  One  of  them  frankly 
writes, 

"Probably  no  missionary  to  China  doubts  that  almost  all 
Chinese  oiBcials  believe  the  missionaries  to  be  political  agents. 
Dr.  D.  Z.  Sheffield  recently  said:  'Missionaries  are  feared 
and  hated  not  because  of  their  religious  teachings  but  be- 
cause they  are  thought  to  be  political  emissaries.'  While  in 
China  I  was  repeatedly  asked  my  rank  as  'an  American  offi- 
cial,' whether  I  'report  in  person  to  my  emperor  on  my  re- 
turn to  my  native  land,'  'how  much  salary  my  government 
allows  me,'  and  many  other  questions  the  import  of  which  is 
manifest.  During  the  late  reform  period  (1895),  I  was  as- 
siduosly  cultivated  by  an  expectant  official  who  had  been  un- 
successful in  obtaining  office,  in  the  hope  that  I  would  induce 
the  Governor  to  give  him  a  place.  He  offered,  through  our 
Chinese  medical  helper,  to  contribute  1,000  taels  ($750)  or 
more  a  year  to  the  Church  in  return  for  our  aid,  provided  he 
secured  office.  This  seems  very  strange,  and  yet  there  are, 
doubtless,  many  things,  which  interpreted  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  Chinese  official,  would  appear  to  warrant  such  a 
view.  Their  sentiments  were  voiced  long  ago  by  Wen  Hsiang, 
who  said,  in  1868:  'Take  away  your  extra-territorial  clause, 
and  merchant  and  missionary  may  settle  anywhere  and  every- 
where, but  retain  it  and  we  must  do  our  best  to  confine  you 
and  our  trouble  to  the  treaty  ports.'  The  spirit  of  depend- 
ence on  the  political  influence  of  the  foreigner  is  an  acknowl- 
edged weakness  of  the  Chinese  church  to-day,  and  example 
is  better  than  precept." 


6o 

Doubtless  many  diplomats  would  be  glad  to  have  the  mis- 
sionaries expatriate  themselves.  But,  while  we  cannot  limit 
the  liberty  of  the  individual  to  renounce  his  claim  to  the  pro- 
tection of  American  citizenship,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
such  renunciation  is  neither  necessary  nor  expedient.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  probability  that  our  Government  will  re- 
quire it,  and  if  it  should,  the  public  sentiment  of  America 
would  not  tolerate  it  for  a  week.  No  self-respecting  nation 
can  expatriate  its  citizens  who  go  abroad  to  preach  Christ. 

Nor  would  I  go  so  far  as  the  China  Indian  Mission  in  for- 
bidding missionaries  to  appeal  to  their  government  officials 
without  special  permission  from  headquarters.  But  I  think 
it  might  be  well  to  make  the  approval  of  the  station  necess- 
ary, and,  wherever  practicable,  of  the  mission.  Nine-tenths 
of  the  missionaries  do  not  and  will  not  unnecessarily  write  or 
telegraph  for  the  intervention  of  Minister  or  Consul.  But 
the  tenth  man  may  be  benefited  by  the  counsel  of  his  col- 
leagues who  know  or  who  maybe  easily  acquainted  with  the 
facts.  This  is  in  harmony  with  the  policy  of  the  Board,  which,  in 
a  formal  action,  has  expressed  the  judgment  that  "appeals  to 
the  secular  arm  should  always  and  everywhere  be  as  few  as 
possible."  It  is  not  in  the  civil  or  military  power  of  our  coun- 
try to  give  missionary  success.  In  the  crude  and  half-chaotic 
condition  of  heathen  society,  and  the  hostility  of  those  who 
"take  council  together  against  the  Lord,"  the  temptation  is 
sometimes  strong  to  appeal  for  aid  to  "the  secular  arm"  of 
the  United  States  Government.  Occasions  may  possibly  arise 
in  which  it  will  be  necessary  to  insist  upon  them.  Neverthe- 
less, as  a  rule,  it  will  be  wise  to  remember  that  "the  weapons 
of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal  but  mighty  through  God,"  and 
that  "the  servant  of  the  Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle 
unto  all  men."  The  argument  of  the  sword  is  Mohammedan, 
not  Christian.  Our  Prince  is  a  Prince  of  Peace,  and  "His 
banner  over  us  is  love."  The  veteran  Rev.  J.  Hudson  Tay- 
lor holds  that  in  the  long  run  appeals  to  home  government 
do  nothing  but  harm.  He  says  he  has  known  of  many  riots 
that  had  never  been  reported  and  of  much  suffering  endured 
in  silence  which  have  "fallen  out  rather  to  the  furtherance  of 
the  Gospel,"  and  that  "if  we  leave  God  to  vindicate  our 
cause  the  issue  is  sure  to  prove  marvelous  in  spirituality." 

The  critics  are  now  vociferously  charging  that  the  mis- 
sionaries are  manifesting  a  bloodthirsty  and  revengeful  spir- 
it. It  may  indeed  be  true  that  among  the  thousands  of  Ro- 
man Catholic  and  Protestant  missionaries  in  China  some  have 
temporarily  lost  their  self-control  and  given  way  to  anger 
under  the  awful  provocation  of  ruined  work,  burned  homes, 
outraged  women  and  butchered  Chinese  Christians.  How 
many  at  home  would  or  could  remain  calm  in  such  circum- 


stances?  But  it  is  grossly  unjust  to  treat  such  excited  utter- 
ances as  representative  of  the  great  body  of  missionary  opin- 
ion, particularly  among  Presbyterians.  Our  missionaries,  as 
a  rule,  are  men  and  women  of  the  highest  Christian  charac- 
ter. They  have  gone  to  China,  and  they  propose  to  stay 
there,  because  they  love  and  believe  in  the  Chinese,  and  it  is 
very  far  from  their  thought  to  demand  their  punishment. 
They  sensibly  expected  a  certain  amount  of  opposition  from 
tradition,  heathenism,  superstition  and  corruption,  and  they 
are  not  disposed  to  unmanly  or  unchristian  measures  when 
that  trouble  falls  upon  them  which  fell  in  even  greater  meas- 
ure on  their  Master  Himself.  They  know,  too,  that  the  upris- 
ing in  China  was  not  so  much  anti-Christian  as  anti-foreign, 
that  it  was  superinduced  chiefly  by  foreign  politics  and  com- 
merce, and  by  a  native  revolutionary  party  whose  zeal  was  . 
not  tempered  by  discretion. 

Critics,  however,  may  be  reminded  that  missionaries  are 
American  citizens;  that  when  distillers'  agents  and  beer-sel- 
lers and  gamblers  in  China  claim  the  rights  of  American  citi- 
zenship, the  missionary  does  not  forfeit  his  rights  by  a  resi- 
dence in  China  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  young,  heal- 
ing the  sick,  distributing  the  Bible  and  preaching  the  Gospel 
of  Christ,  particularly  when  treaties  guarantee  him  protection 
in  the  exercise  of  these  very  privileges. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  the  missionaries  feel  that  the  ring- 
leaders of  the  Boxers,  including  those  in  high  official  posi- 
tion who  more  or  less  secretly  incited  them  to  violence, 
should  be  punished,  yet  not  in  the  interest  of  revenge,  but  of 
the  welfare  of  China,  the  restoration  to  power  of  the  best 
element  among  the  Chinese,  and  the  reasonable  security  of 
Chinese  Christians  and  of  the  foreigners  who  have  treaty 
rights.  Many  missionaries  feel  that  there  is  no  hope  for 
China  save  in  the  predominance  of  the  reform  party,  and 
that  if  the  reactionaries  are  to  remaiii  in  control  the  outlook 
is  dark  indeed,  not  so  much  for  the  foreigner  as  for  China  it- 
self. The  men  who  are  guilty  of  the  atrocities  perpe- 
trated last  summer  violated  every  law,  human  and  divine, 
and  some  of  the  missionaries  are  demanding  their  punish- 
ment only  in  the  same  spirit  as  the  ministers  and  Christian 
people  of  the  United  States  with  united  voice  demanded  the 
punishment  of  four  young  men  in  Paterson,  N.  J.,  who  have 
been  systematically  outraging  young  girls. 

Nevertheless,  as  to  the  whole  subject  of  the  policy  which 
should  be  adopted  by  our  Government  in  China,  I  believe 
that  it  would  be  wise  for  both  the  missionaries  and  the  Board 
to  be  cautious  in  expressing  advice,  and  to  leave  the  respon- 
sibility for  action  with  the  lawfully  constituted  civil  authori- 
ties upon  whom  the  people  have  placed  it.     They  have  bet- 


62 

ter  facilities  for  acquiring  accurate  information  as  to  political 
questions  than  we  have.  They  can  ask  our  views  if  they 
want  them.  They  can  see  the  bearings  of  movement'.'  more 
clearly  than  we  can.  They  know  elements  in  the  situation 
which  we  do  not  and  they  must  bear  the  blame  or  praise  for 
consequences.  Moreover  generations  of  protest  against 
priestly  domination  have  developed  in  both  Europe  and 
America  a  disposition  to  resent  clerical  interference  in  politi- 
cal questions  for  which  we  ministers  are  ourselves  largely  re- 
sponsible. This  is  particularly  true  in  Asia,  where  the  politi- 
cal situation  is  so  delicate.  The  opinions  publicly  expressed 
by  the  missionaries  as  to  the  policy,  which,  in  their  judgment 
should  be  adopted  by  our  Government  and  by  the  European 
Powers  have  included  not  only  many  published  articles  of  in- 
dividual missionaries  in  various  newspapers  and  magazines, 
but  formal  communications  of  bodies  or  committees  of  mis- 
sionaries, as,  for  example,  the  protests  of  missionaries  as- 
sembled in  Chefoo  and  Shanghai  against  the  decision  of  the 
Government  to  withdraw  troops  from  Peking,  to  recognize 
the  Empress  Dowager,  to  omit  certain  officials  from  the  list 
of  those  who  were  to  be  executed  or  banished,  and,  in  parti- 
cular, the  letter  addressed  by  "the  undersigned  British  and 
American  missionaries  representative  of  societies  and  organ- 
izations that  have  wide  interests  in  China"  "to  their  Excel- 
lencies the  Plenopotentiaries  of  Great  Britian  and  the  United 
States  accredited  to  the  Chinese  Government." 

These  actions  were  taken  by  men  whose  character,  ability 
and  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  entitle  them  to  great  weight, 
and  who  were  personally  affected  in  the  security  of  their  lives 
and  property  and  in  the  interests  of  their  life  work  by  the 
policy  adopted  by  their  respective  governments.  All  are 
citizens  who  did  not  abdicate  their  citizenship  in  becoming 
missionaries,  and  whose  status  and  rights  in  China,  as  such, 
have  been  specifically  recognized  by  treaty.  All,  moreover, 
expressed  their  views  with  clearness,  dignity  and  force. 
From  the  viewpoint  of  right  and  privilege,  and,  indeed, 
political  duty  as  citizens,  they  were  abundantly  justified  in 
expressing  their  opinions. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  friends  of  missions  and 
and  missionaries  who,  from  the  viewpoint  of  Christian  ex- 
pediency, doubt  whether  formal  declarations  of  judgment  on 
political  and  military  questions  "  as  missionaries  "  were  ac- 
corded much  influence  by  diplomacy,  whether  they  did  not 
increase  the  popular  criticism  of  missionaries  to  an  extent 
which  more  than  counterbalanced  any  good  that  they  accom- 
plished, whether  they  did  not  identify  the  missionary  cause 
with  "  the  consul  and  gunboat  "  policy  which  Lord  Salisbury 
charged  upon  it,  and  whether  they  did  not  prejudice  their  own 


6j 

future  influence  over  the  Chinese  and  strengthen  the  im- 
pression that  the  missionaries  are  "  political  emissaries." 
As  Sir  Robert  Hart  gently  puts  it:  "Some  people  seem  to 
feel  it  would  have  been  wiser  for  ministers  of  the  Gospel  to 
have  left  to  'governors'  the  'punishment  of  evildoers.'" 
And  yet  we  must  all  add,  with  him  :  "  For  my  part,  I  cannot 
blame  them.  "  Perhaps  the  whole  of  his  balanced  statement 
to  me  on  this  subject  should  be  quoted : 

"As  for  punitive  measures,  etc.,  I  have  really  no  personal 
knowledge  of  the  action  taken  by  American  missionaries,  and 
hearsay  is  not  a  good  foundation  for  opinion.  It  is  said  that 
vindictive  feeling  rather  than  tender  mercy  has  been  noticed. 
But  even  if  so,  it  cannot  be  wondered  at,  so  cruel  were  the 
Chinese  assailants  when  they  had  the  upper  hand.  The 
occasion  has  been  altogether  anomalous,  and  it  is  only  at 
the  parting  of  the  ways  the  difterence  of  view  comes  in. 
That  what  was  done  merited  almost  wholesale  punishment 
is  a  view  most  will  agree  in — eyes  turned  to  the  past — but 
when  discussion  tries  to  argue  out  what  will  be  the  best  for 
the  future,  some  will  vote  for  striking  terror,  and  others  for 
trusting  more  to  the  more  slowly  working  but  longer  lasting 
effect  of  mercy.  I  do  not  believe  any  missionary  has  brought 
anybody  to  punishment  who  did  not  richly  deserve  it.  But 
some  people  seem  to  feel  it  would  have  been  wiser  for  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  to  have  leftto 'governors' the  'punishment 
of  evildoers.'  For  my  part,  I  cannot  blame  them,  for  with- 
out their  assistance  much  that  is  known  would  not  have  been 
known,  and,  although  numbers  of  possibly  innocent,  inoffen- 
sive and  non-hostile  people  may  have  been  overwhelmed  in 
this  last  year's  avalanche  of  disaster,  there  are  still  at  large 
a  lot  of  men  whose  punishment  would  probably  have  been  a 
good  thing  for  the  future.  One  can  only  hope  that  their  good 
luck  in  escaping  may  lead  them  to  take  a  new  departure,  and 
with  their  heads  in  the  right  direction." 

Wisely  or  unwisely — the  former,  as  I  venture  to  think — 
our  Board  at  home  and  the  interdenominational  conference 
of  all  the  Boards  in  America  having  work  in  China,  declined 
to  make  representations  to  our  Government  on  questions  of 
policy.  We  necessarily  had  much  correspondence  with  Wash- 
ington regarding  the  safety  of  beloved  missionaries  during 
the  siege,  but  when  I  inquired  of  the  Secretary  of  State  as  to 
the  accuracy  of  the  later  newspaper  charges  that  mission 
boards  were  urging  the  Government  to  retaliatory  measures, 
he  promptly  replied : 

"No  communications  of  this  nature  have  been  received 
from  the  great  mission  boards  or  from  their  authorized  rep- 
resentatives." 

But  let  us  hear  the  missionaries  themselves  on  this  sub- 


64 

jeci.  A  committee,  headed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Calvin  Mateer, 
and  representing  all  the  leading  English-speaking  missionary 
bodies  in  China,  has  prepared  a  reply  to  this  criticism,  a  re- 
ply which  has  been  circulated  throughout  China,  and  has  re- 
ceived the  assent  of  so  large  a  number  of  missionaries  of 
all  churches  and  nationalities  that  it  may  be  taken  as  repre- 
senting the  views  of  fully  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  body  of 
Protestant  missionaries  in  the  Empire.  This  letter  should 
be  given  the  the  widest  possible  currency,  as  expressing  the 
views  of  men  who  are  the  peers  of  any  equal  number  of 
Christian  workers  in  the  world.  It  is  dated  May  24,  1901, 
and,  after  discussing  the  question  of  the  responsibility  for  the 
uprising,  the  letter  continues  : 

"With  reference  to  the  second  point — that  we  have  mani- 
fested an  unchristian  spirit  in  suggesting  the  punishment  of 
those  who  were  guilty  of  the  massacre  of  foreigners  and 
native  Christians — we  understand  that  the  criticism  applies 
chiefly  to  the  message  sent  by  the  public  meeting  held  in 
Shanghai  in  September  last. 

"l.  It  should,  in  the  first  place,  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
resolutions  passed  at  that  meeting  were  called  for  by  the 
proposal  of  the  Allies  to  evacuate  Peking  immediately  after 
the  relief  of  the  Legations.  It  was  felt,  not  only  by  mis- 
sionaries but  by  the  whole  of  the  foreign  residents  in  China, 
that  such  a  course  would  be  fraught  with  the  greatest  dis- 
aster, inasmuch  as  it  would  give  sanction  to  further  law- 
lessness. 

"2.  Further  it  must  be  remembered  that  w^hile  suggest- 
ing that  a  satisfactory  settlement  '  should  include  the  ad- 
equate punishment  of  all  who  were  guilty  of  the  recent 
murders  of  foreigners  and  native  Christian,'  it  was  left  to 
the  Powers  to  decide  what  that  '  adequate  punishment '  should 
be.  Moreover,  when  taking  such  measures  as  were  neces- 
sary, they  were  urged  to  'make  every  effort  to  avoid  all  need- 
less and  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  Chinese  and  destruction 
of  their  property.' 

"3.  By  a  strange  misunderstanding  we  find  that  this  sug- 
gestion has  been  interpreted  as  though  it  were  animated  by 
an  unchristian  spirit  of  revenge.  With  the  loss  of  scores  of 
friends  and  colleagues  still  fresh  upon  us,  and  with  stories 
of  cruel  massacres  reaching  us  day  by  clay,  it  would  not  have 
been  surprising  had  we  been  betrayed  into  intemperate  ex- 
pressions, but  we  entirely  repudiate  the  idea  which  has  been 
read  into  our  words.  If  governments  are  the  ministers  of 
God's  righteousness,  then  surely  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
Christian  government  not  only  to  uphold  the  right  but  to  put 
down  the  wrong,  and  equally  the  duty  of  all  Christian  subjects 
to  support    them  in  so  doing.     For  China,  as  for  Western 


65 

nations,  anarchy  is  the  only  alternative  to  law.  Bothjustice 
and  mercy  require  the  judicial  punishment  of  the  wrong-doers 
in  the  recent  outrages.  For  the  good  of  the  people  them- 
selves, for  the  upholding  of  that  standard  of  righteousness 
which  they  acknowledge  and  respect,  for  the  strengthening 
and  encouragement  of  those  olificials  whose  sympathies  have 
been  throughout  on  the  side  of  law  and  order,  and  for  the 
protection  of  our  own  helpless  women  and  children  and  the 
equally  helpless  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Church,  we  think 
that  such  violations  of  treaty  obligations,  and  such  heartless 
and  unprovoked  massacres  as  have  been  carried  out  by  of- 
ficial authority  or  sanction,  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass 
unpunished.  It  is  not  of  our  personal  wrongs  that  we  think, 
but  of  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order,  and  of  the  future 
safety  of  all  foreigners  residing  in  the  interior  of  China,  who, 
it  must  be  remembered,  are  not  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
Chinese  law,  but,  according  to  the  treaties,  are  immediately 
responsible  to,  and  under  the  protection  of,  their  respective 
governments." 

The  reply  rather  pathetically  concludes  : 
"  It  is  unhappily  the  lot  of  missionaries  to  be  misunder- 
stood and  spoken  against,  and  we  are  aware  that  in  any  ex- 
planation we  now  offer  we  add  to  the  risk  of  further  mis- 
understanding, but  we  cast  ourselves  on  the  forbearance  of 
our  friends,  and  beg  them  to  refrain  from  hasty  and  ill- 
formed  judgments.  If,  on  our  part,  there  have  been  ex- 
treme statements,  if  individual  missionaries  have  used  in- 
temperate words  or  have  made  demands  out  of  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  our  Divine  Lord,  is  it  too  much  to  ask  that 
the  anguish  and  peril  through  which  so  many  of  our  num- 
ber have  gone  during  the  last  six  months  should  be  remem- 
bered, and  that  the  whole  body  should  not  be  made  respon- 
sible for  the  hasty  utterances  of  the  few  ?" 

WHEN  SHOULD  MISSIONARIES  RETURN  TO  THE  INTERIOR? 

On  the  one  hand, it  is  urgently  desirable  that  the  work  should 
be  permanently  resumed  as  soon  as  possible,  that  men  now 
living  temporarily  and  without  homes  in  the  interior,  and 
wives  living  inconveniently  and  at  increased  expense  at  the 
ports  should  be  reunited,  and  that,  in  particular,  both  native 
Christians  and  Chinese  communities  should  see  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  destroyed  stations  and  the  return  of  the  fugitive 
families,  not  only  for  safeguarding  the  present  interests  of 
the  work,  but  for  the  moral  effect  upon  the  Chinese.  As  we 
are  going  on  with  our  work,  the  shorter  the  demoralizing 
interregnum  the  better.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  not 
recklessly  disregard  local  conditions,  or  unwisely  expose 
devoted  missionaries  to  unreasonable  risks. 


66 

Of  course,  we  first  ask  :  What  is  the  advice  of  experienced 
men  who  are  not  engaged  in  missionary  work,  especially 
the  Ministers  and  Consuls  of  the  various  Powers  ?  It  may 
be  urged  that,  from  their  position,  they  are  more  apt  to  be 
disinterested,  and,  therefore,  to  be  wiser  on  this  subject  than 
missionaries,  who  are  naturally  eager  to  return  to  their  homes 
and  work.  Moreover,  we  are  undoubtedly  under  strong 
moral  obligations  to  attach  great  weight  to  their  judgment. 
If  missionaries  receive  the  benefits  of  their  citizenship,  and 
if  by  their  acts  they  may  involve  their  governments,  they 
should  recognize  the  right  of  the  authorized  representatives 
of  those  governments  to  counsel  them.  The  presumption 
should  be  in  favor  of  obedience  to  that  counsel,  and  it  should 
not  be  disregarded  without  clear  and  strong  reasons. 

But  we  cannot  ignore  the  fact  that,  whatever  may  be  the 
personal  sympathies  of  individual  ministers  or  consuls,  di- 
plomacy as  such  values  only  the  secondary  results  of  mis- 
sions and  not  the  primary  ones.  Government  ofificials, 
speaking  on  missionary  work,  almost  invariably  dwell  on  its 
material  and  civilizing  rather  than  its  spiritural  aspects. 
They  do  not,  in  their  official  capacity,  feel  that  the  salvation 
of  men  from  sin  and  the  command  of  Christ  to  evangelize 
all  nations  are  within  their  sphere.  Moreover,  diplomacy  is 
proverbially  and  necessarily  cautious.  Its  business  is  to 
avoid  risks,  and,  of  course,  to  advise  others  to  avoid  them. 
The  political  situation,  too,  is  undeniably  uncertain  and 
delicate.  The  future  is  big  with  possibility  of  peril.  In 
such  circumstances  we  must  expect  diplomacy  to  be  anxious, 
and  to  deprecate  resumption  of  missionary  work  which  events 
may  show  to  be  premature.  Diplomacy,  therefore,  will  prob- 
ably look  at  the  whole  question  solely  from  the  prudential 
viewpoint. 

Rut  the  missionary,  like  the  soldier,  must  take  some  risks. 
From  Paul  down,  missionaries  have  not  hesitated  to  face 
them.  Christ  did  not  condition  His  great  command  upon 
the  approval  of  Csesar.  It  never  has  been  and  it  is  not  likely 
to  be  for  a  generation  to  come,  perfectly  safe  for  foreigners 
to  reside  in  the  interior  of  China.  But  the  work  must  go  on. 
Devoted  men  and  women  have  accepted  the  risk  in  the  past, 
and  they  will  accept  it  in  the  future.  We  recognize  the  im- 
portance of  worldly  wisdom.  We  must  exercise  common 
sense.  And  yet  this  enterprise  is  unworldly  as  well  as 
worldly,  and  when  the  soldier  of  his  country  boldly  faces 
every  physical  peril,  when  the  men  of  the  world  unflinch- 
ingly jeopardize  life  and  limb  in  the  pursuit  of  gold — a  min- 
ing engineer  and  his  wife  are  now  living  alone  in  an  interior 
village  of  Shantung — when  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  are 
in  their  remotest  stations  and  propose  to  stay  there,  shall  the 


67 

Protestant  soldier  of  the  Cross  be  held  back  ?  He  is  willing 
to  gfo.  Our  men  hurried  to  the  front  as  soon  as  they  could. 
Several  of  the  wives  would  have  gone  with  them  if  they  had 
not  been  dissuaded  by  their  consuls  and  friends.  Now,  save 
in  a  few  cases  where  small  children  are  involved,  the  wo- 
men also  are  planning  to  return  to  their  stations  in  the  fall. 
Missionaries  of  the  English  Baptist,  American  Baptist  South, 
Canadian  Presbyterian,  China  Inland,  American  Board,  Lon- 
don and  American  Methodist  Missions  inform  me  that  they 
are  making  similar  plans.  Consul  Fowler,  of  Chefoo,  told 
me  that  he  saw  no  present  reason  for  discouraging  the  re- 
turn of  the  Shantung  missionaries,  though -he  naturally  re- 
served the  right  to  alter  this  judgment  if  later  developments 
should  justify  him  in  doing  so.  Sir  Robert  Hart  writes 
me  : 

"You  ask  me  if  missionary  families  may  safely  return  to 
their  stations  inland.  There  is  still  unrest  all  around,  and, 
as  there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  unnecessary  haste,  I 
think  it  would  be  better  to  avoid  risks.  It  seems  safe 
enough  now  in  Shantung,  but  were  anything  to  happen  to 
the  Governor,  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  the  position  of  the  men  who 
have  resumed  work  might  be  less  secure.  The  personality 
of  a  Governor  or  Viceroy  has  much  to  do  with  the  attitude 
of  both  officials  and  people,  and,  therefore,  the  decision  to 
reoccupy  places  inland  ought  to  be  determined  at  this  junc- 
ture, not  by  the  accident  of  the  presence  of  a  friendly  Gov" 
ernor,  but  by  the  known  conditions  of  the  locality.  There 
is  more  or  less  disturbance  everywhere,  and  I  think  it  would 
not  only  be  prudent  to  wait  till  things  settle,  but  also  unjust 
to  missionaries  to  decide  otherwise." 

Minister  Conger  was  in  America  on  furlough  when  I  was 
in  Peking,  so  that  I  could  not  learn  his  views.  The  mis- 
sionaries justly  respect  him  and  trust  his  judgment.  Thus 
far,  therefore,  there  is  no  official  opposition  to  the  return  of 
our  missionaries  this  fall.  If  there  should  be,  it  must  not 
be  lightly  disregarded.  If,  after  careful  deliberation  and 
prayer  for  Divine  guidance,  the  missionaries  feel  that  they 
ought  to  go,  they  should  consult  the  Board,  and  if  the  Board 
sustains  them,  all  concerned  should  accept  responsibility  for 
the  risks  involved.  If  we  do  not  allow  diplomacy  to  control 
our  missionary  movements,  we  must  not  be  too  exacting  in 
our  demands  on  them  when  trouble  comes.  The  editor  of 
the  New  York  Evangelist  once  said:  "  A  foreign  missionary 
is  one  who  goes  to  a  strange  country  to  preach  the  Gospel 
of  our  salvation.  That  is  his  errand  and  his  defense.  The 
civil  authorities  are  not  presumed  to  be  on  his  side.  If  he 
offends  the  sensibilities  of  the  people  to  whom  he  preaches, 
he  is  supposed  to  face  the  consequences.     If  he  cannot  win 


68 

men  by  the  Word  and  his  own  love  for  their  souls,  he  can- 
not call  on  the  civil  or  military  powers  to  convert  them. 
Nor  is  the  missionary  a  merchant,  in  the  sense  that  he  must 
have  ready  recourse  to  the  courts  for  a  recouping  of  losses 
or  the  recovery  of  damages.  Commercial  treaties  cannot 
cover  all  our  missionary  enterprise.  Confusion  of  ideas 
here  has  confounded  a  good  many  fine  plans  and  zealous 
men.  It  is  a  tremendous  begging  of  the  whole  question,  to 
insist  on  the  nation's  protection  of  the  men  who  are  to  sub- 
vert the  national  faith.  Property  rights  and  preaching  rights 
get  closely  entwined,  and  it  is  difficult  to  untangle  them  at 
times,  but  the  distinction  is  definite  and  the  difference  often 
fundamental.  By  confusing  them  we  weaken  the  claims  of 
both.  And  when  our  Christian  preachers  get  behind  a  mere 
property  right  in  order  to  defend  their  right  to  preach  a  new 
religion,  they  dishonor  themselves  and  defame  the  faith  they 
profess.  To  get  behind  diplomatic  guaranties  in  order  to 
evangelize  the  nations  is  to  mistake  the  sword  of  the  spirit, 
to  rely  on  the  arm  of  flesh  and  put  aside  the  help  of  the 
Almighty." 

That  is,  in  my  judgment,  stating  the  case  very  strongly, 
but  it  is  the  counsel  of  a  friend,  and  it  is  deserving  of  our 
thoughtful  consideration. 

While  the  situation  may  radically  change  by  the  time  this 
report  is  laid  before  the  Board,  yet  from  present  indications 
I  agree  with  Consul  Fowler  and  the  missionaries,  that  we 
should  plan  the  full  reoccupation  of  every  one  of  our  stations 
this  fall,  and  I  believe  that  every  able-bodied  China  mission- 
ary in  America  whose  furlough  has  expired  should  hasten  to 
the  field.  Now  is  the  time  for  the  missionary  ministry  of 
reconciliation  in  China.  To  leave  the  field  to  the  politician, 
the  soldier  and  the  trader  would  be  to  dishonor  Christ,  to 
fail  to  utilize  an  unprecedented  opportunity,  to  abandon  the 
helpless  native  Christians  in  their  hour  of  sore  need  and  to 
prejudice  missionary  influence  at  home  and  abroad  for  a  gen- 
eration. 

I  am  astonished  by  the  occasional  remark  that  a  mission- 
ary can  do  so  little  in  China  at  present  that  it  would  be  wise 
to  anticipate  or  prolong  furloughs  home.  True,  it  may  not 
be  practicable  to  reopen  a  school  or  a  hospital,  or  to  make 
long  itinerating  tours.  But  is  missionary  work  simply  insti- 
tutionalism?  Can  a  missionary  do  nothing  because  he  can- 
not superintend  something?  There  was  never  more  urgent 
need  than  there  is  to-day  for  loving  personal  work,  and  the 
opportunity  is  ample.  If  one  cannot  return  to  his  own  sta- 
tion let  him  help  some  sister  station  of  his  own  or  another 
Board,  as  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  of  Hunan  have  offered 
to  help  us  in  Shantung.     Even  if  the  whole  interior  should  be 


69 

closed  by  a  new  outbreak,  there  are  enough  Chinese  who 
have  never  heard  the  Gospel  within  the  zone  of  military  oc- 
cupation of  foreign  armies  to  keep  all  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries in  China  busy  for  a  year,  and  still  the  proportion  of 
Christian  workers  to  the  population  would  be  less  than  in 
New  York  and  Chicago.  Why  not  take  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity to  evangelize  the  great  cities  of  Peking,  Tientsin, 
Shanghai,  Canton  and  a  score  of  other  populous  coast  towns, 
which  exert  such  a  mighty  influence  in  this  empire?  Dr.  Lil- 
lie  E,  V.  Saville,  of  the  London  Mission,  who  reopened  her 
dispensary  in  Peking  in  January,  now  says  :  I  have  never 
had  such  rich  opportunities  for  sowing  the  seed,  and  I  am 
sure  in  many  hearts  the  ground  has  been  prepared  during  the 
past  months  of  disorder  and  suffering."  Other  missionaries 
give  similar  testimony.  This  is  not  the  time  for  the  messen- 
ger of  Christ  to  hold  his  peace,  but  to  preach  with  new  zeal 
and  fidelity. 

INTERFERENCE  IN  NATIVE  LAWSUITS. 

Most  vehement  of  the  criticsms  upon  missionaries  in  China 
is  that  they  interfere  on  behalf  of  their  converts  in  the  law- 
suits which  are  so  common  among  the  Chinese.  Jealousy 
and  dislike  of  the  native  who  attaches  himself  to  the  foreign- 
er, or  who  espouses  "the  foreigner's  religion,"  frequently 
hale  him  into  court  on  trumped-up  charges  and  the  notorious 
prejudice  and  corruption  of  the  average  magistrate  often  re- 
sult in  grievous  persecution.  The  terrified  Christian  natur- 
ally implores  the  missionary  to  save  him.  It  is  hard  to  re- 
sist such  an  appeal.  But  the  defendant  is  not  always  so  in- 
nocent as  he  appears  to  be,  and,  whether  innocent  or  guilty, 
the  interference  of  the  foreigner  irritates  both  magistrate  and 
prosecutor,  while  it  not  infrequently  arouses  the  resentment 
of  the  whole  community  by  giving  the  idea  that  the  Christ- 
ians are  a  privileged  class  who  are  not  answerable  to  the  or- 
dinary laws  of  the  land.  When,  as  sometimes  happens,  the 
Christians  themselves  get  that  impression  and  presume  upon 
it,  the  situation  becomes  acute. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  quite 
generally  adopt  this  policy  of  interference.  Through  the 
Minister  of  France  to  Peking  they  have  obtained  an  Imperial 
Edict  granting  them  official  status,  so  that  the  local  priest  is 
on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  local  magistrate,  and  has  the 
right  tofull  access  to  him  at  any  time.  Whether  or  not  intended 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  impression  is  almost  univer- 
sal in  China  among  native  and  foreigners  alike  that,  if  a  Chi- 
nese becomes  a  Catholic,  the  Church  will  stand  by  him  through 
thick  and  thin,  in  time  and  in  eternity.  This  is  one  secret  of 
Rome's  great  and  rapidly  growing  power  in  China,   and  un- 


7° 

questionably,  too,  it  is  one  of  the  causes  of  China's  hostility 
to  missions.     In  my  many  interviews  with  Chinese  officials 
it  was  my  custom  to  lead  the  conversation  toward  the  mo- 
tives of  those  who  had  attacked  foreigners    last  year,  and 
without  exception  the  officials  mentioned,  among  other  causes, 
the  interference  of  the  Roman  Catholic  priests  with  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  law  in  cases  affecting  their  converts.     In 
several  places  in  the  interior  this  was  the  only  reason  as- 
signed.    The  politeness  of  an  Oriental  host  to  a  guest  is  not 
always  limited  by  strict  veracity,  and  it  is  possible  that  to 
Roman  Catholics  the  officials    may  blame  the    Protestants. 
But  it  is  worth  recording  here  that  when  I  asked  the  magis- 
trate of  Paotingfu  why  the  people  had  killed  such  kindly  and 
helpful  neighbors  as    our    missionaries,    he  replied:     "The 
/       people  were  angered  by  the  interference  of  the  Catholics  in 
(        their  lawsuits.      They  felt  that  they  could  not  obtain  justice 
\       against  them,  and  in  their  frenzy  they  did  not  distinguish  be- 
\     tween  Catholics  and    Protestants."       The    Roman    Catholic 
/     Mission  in  the  prefecture  of  Paotingfu,  it  should  be  remem- 
/       bered,  is  about  two  centuries  old,  and  the  Catholic  popula- 
j        tion  is  about  twelve  thousand,  so  that  the  iew  hundred  Pro- 
testants who  have  been   gathered   in  the   recent   work  of  the 
Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians  are  exceedingly  small 
in  comparison,  while  the   splendid   cathedral  of  the  Roman 
Church,  the  spectacular  character  of  its  services  and  the  of- 
ficial status  and  aggressiveness  of  its  priests  intensify    the 
disproportion.     The  term  Christian,  therefore,  to  the  average 
man  of  Paotingfu  is  more  apt  to  mean  a    Catholic    than  a 
Protestant. 

It  is  customary  for  the  friends  of  Protestant  missionaries 
to  answer  the  critic's  charge  of  interference  in  native  law- 
suits by  stating  that  it  does  not  justly  lie  against  them,  but 
against  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  rule  of  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries being  to  avoid  such  interference  save  in  the  most 
rare  and  extreme  cases.  Alexander  Michie,  however,  in  a 
recent  address,  declares  that  Prostestant  missionaries  are 
not  entitled  to  such  exemption,  and  that,  while  they  may  not 
interfere  so  frequently  as  the  Catholics,  they,  nevertheless, 
interfere  often  enough  to  bring  them  under  the  same  con- 
demnation. 

I  asked  vSir  Robert  Hart  what  he  thought  upon  this  ques- 
tion and  what  he  would  advise,  illustrating  my  meaning  by 
describing  a  case  in  which  a  native  Christian  was  falsely 
charged  by  his  heathen  neighbors,  and  who,  by  perjury  and 
the  connivance  of  anti-foreign  magistrate,  had  been  deprived 
of  his  property  and  thrown  into  prison.  In  such  circumstan- 
ces, I  inquired,  should  the  missionary  seek  to  obtain  justice 
for  the  persecuted  man,  or  should  he  remain  silent?     vSir  Rob- 


71 

ert,  on  this  point  also,  very  kindly  wrote  out  his  views  as 
follows: 

"The  missionary  question  is  likely  to  remain  a  debated  one 
for  years  to  come, but  in  the  meantime  what  we  shall  continue  to 
see  is  this:  Christian  countries  will  subscribe  funds.  Christian 
communities  will  supply  volunteers,  and  devoted  men  and  wo- 
will  take  their  lives  in  their  hands  and  carry  the  Gospel  every- 
where. In  China  missionaries  will  seek  to  do  good  accord- 
ing to  their  light,  and  in  doing  so  they  will  be  followed  by 
the  defects  of  their  qualities.  Their  labor  will  benefit  many, 
but  will  probably  oftend  more  and,  China  being  what  it  is,  I 
think  it  would  be  well  if  their  future  marching  orders  could 
in  some  way  suggest  to  them  what  they  are  not  to  do,  not 
in  the  faulty  form  of  a  list  of  details  but  in  the  handy  and 
convenient  shape  of  a  principle.  The  active  benevolence  of 
the  Golden  Rule,  'Do  unto  others'  ought  to  go  hand  in  hand 
with  the  restraining  common  sense  of  its  Counterpart,  'Do 
not.'  Missionaries  are  grown-up  people,  and  must  be  very 
much  left  to  themselves  to  decide  what  duty  requires  at  each 
step  in  their  career.  They  carry  with  them  the  Master's  or- 
ders, 'Preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature;'  that  is  their  di- 
vine commission;  but  they  are  also  the  agents  of  the  soci- 
eties which  send  them  forth  and  support  them,  and  every 
such  society  has  indubitably  the  right  to  indicate  the  policy 
its  envoys  are  to  adopt  and  practice  as  men  among  men,  and 
the  'do  not'  axiom  ought  to  be  as  liberally  interpreted  and 
as  zealously  followed  as  its  mate  'do.'  If  converts  exper- 
ience that  change  of  heart  which  is  the  essential  of  our  relig- 
ion, all  other  virtues  will  gradually  group  themselves  around 
that  vivifying  center  and  suitable  non-essentials  will  increase 
and  multiply.  But  the  teacher  himself — that  is,  the  mission- 
ary— will  do  well  to  take  a  leaf  from  the  pages  of  the  past. 
Local  customs  need  not  be  banned,  popular  prejudices  need 
not  be  tilted  against,  a  neighborhood's  feelings  in  respect  of 
site  and  style  of  buildings  ought  not  to  be  hurt,  and  interven- 
tion in  matters  litigated  ought  to  be  absolutely  eschewed. 
Let  the  missionary  content  himself  with  making  his  disciples 
good  men  and  good  citizens,  and  let  him  leave  it  to  the  duly 
authorized  officials  to  interpret  and  apply  the  law  and  admin- 
ister their  affairs  in  their  own  way.  Individual  Christianity 
has  as  many  shades  and  degrees  as  men's  faces.  There  are 
converts  and  converts,  but  even  the  most  godly  of  them  may 
give  his  neighbor  just  reason  to  take  offense,  and  the  most 
saintly  among  them  may  get  involved  in  the  meshes  of  the 
law.  In  such  cases  let  the  missionary  stand  aloof.  There  is, 
too,  such  a  thing  as  hypocrisy;  much  better  let  the  schem- 
er get  his  deserts  than  hurt  the  church's  character  by  follow- 
ing sentiment  into  interference.     You  ask  what  is  to  be  done 


72 

when  there  is  persecution  to  be  deal  with?  First  of  all,  I 
would  advise  the  individual  or  the  community  to  live  it  down, 
and,  as  a  last  resort,  report  the  fact  with  appropriate  detail 
and  proof  to  the  Legation  in  Peking  for  the  assistance  and 
advice  of  the  Minister.  'Watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure 
afflictions,  do  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  make  full  proof  of 
fhy  ministry.'  " 

After  having  freely  talked  with  our  Presbyterian  mission- 
aries on  this  matter,  I  do  not  believe  it  is  necessary  at  pres- 
ent for  the  Board  to  attempt  to  make  an  inflexible  rule. 
While  there  may  be  exceptional  cases  of  imprudence,  yet  our 
missionaries,  as  a  whole,  are  keenly  alive  to  the  dangers  of 
such  interference,  they  are  increasingly  careful  in  their  con- 
duct, and  they  are  developing  a  wholesome  mission  sentiment 
on  the  subject.  As  an  illustration  of  the  strength  of  this 
feeling  among  some  of  them,  I  append  an  extract  from  a 
pamphlet  written  by  the  Rev.  L.  J.  Davies. 

"  By  the  extra-territorial  treaty  clauses  the  foreigner  in 
China  is  governed  by  the  laws  of  his  own  nation.  If  accused 
of  grave  crime  the  Chinese  officials  can  do  no  more  than 
arrest  and  convey  him  to  his  consul.  The  missionary  is  in 
close  touch  with  consul  and  foreign  minister.  These  facts 
give  him  a  peculiar  advantage  in  dealing  with  the  local 
Chinese  offlcials.  The  policy  of  the  Chinese  Government 
during  the  past  few  years  has  been  to  avoid  trouble  by  let- 
ting the  foreigner  have  his  own  way  whenever  possible. 
Reports,  the  accuracy  of  which  I  cannot  doubt,  have  reached 
me  more  than  once  within  the  past  four  or  five  years  of  cases 
in  which  the  Chinese  official  has  said  in  substance  to  non- 
Christian  litigants  :  '  You  are  right  and  your  Christian  ac- 
cusers are  wrong;  but  if  I  decide  in  your  favor  the  foreigner 
will  appeal  the  case  to  the  Governor  or  to  the  Peking  foreign 
ofhce  and  I  shall  suffer.  Such  things  are  charged,  justly  or 
unjustly,  to  the  account  of  both  Protestant  and  Romanist. 
With  scarcely  an  exception  the  missionaries  agree  that  there 
are  cases  of  persecution  in  which  to  refuse  aid  would  be  ut- 
terly unjust.  The  opinion  is  equally  unanimous  that  a  dis- 
position to  take  advatage  of  the  influence  of  the  foreigner  in- 
cases into  which  no  persecution  enters  is  very  widely  diffused 
in  the  Chinese  church.  This  is  particularly  true  of  inquirers 
and  those  whose  knowledge  of  the  Christian  truth  is  slight, 
but  it  is  by  no  means  confined  to  them.  I  yield  to  no  one 
in  esteem  for  the  type  of  Christian  character  devoloped  in 
China,  and  I  do  not  consider  it  reasonable  to  blame  unspar- 
ingly either  the  Chinese  convert  or  foreign  missionary.  The 
situation  is  extremely  complicated  and  delicate,  and  is  un- 
questionably one  of  the  most  difflcult  with  which  the  mis- 
sionary is  compelled  to  deal.     This  question  of  stopping  by 


73 

legal  methods  alleged  persecution  is  the  bete  noire  of  the 
average  missionary's  life.  He  is  distraught  by  two  fears  : 
First,  that  he  may  not  do  what  he  should  for  a  man  genuine- 
ly persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  and,  secondly,  that  he 
may  use  his  power  as  a  foreigner  in  supporting  unjust  causes, 
and  so  not  only  do  injustice  but  injure  the  church.  That  the 
Chinese  officials  feel  this  state  of  affairs  to  be  very  troublesome 
is  known  to  everyone  who  comes  into  contact  with  them." 

The  Rev.  Paul  D.  Bergen,  of  our  East  Shantung  Mission, 
has  sent  to  over  two  hundred  missionaries,  representing  all 
Protestant  denominations,  a  series  of  questions  as  to  their 
practice  and  convictions  regarding  this  subject.  Seventy- 
three  missionaries  answered,  and  Mr.  Bergen  has  tabulated 
their  replies  in  an  interesting  and  valuable  paper.  Only  two 
"  would  decline  under  any  circumstances  to  ask  for  yamen 
intervention."  While,  as  was  to  be  expected,  wide  differences 
of  opinion  appear,  a  study  of  the  letters  led  Mr.  Bergen  to 
make  the  following  generalizations  : 

"Missionaries  are  willing  to  intercede  in  the  yamen  for 
the  Christians  with  the  following  qualifications  :  First,  that 
persecution  must  be  genuine  and  somewhat  serious  ;  second, 
a  thorough  private  investigation  of  the  facts  should  first  be 
made  ;  third,  the  matter  should  be  made  a  subject  of  earnest 
prayer,  privately  and  with  the  Christian  concerned  ;  fourth, 
the  Christian  should  be  warned  as  to  the  dangers  and  abuses 
likely  to  come  from  official  aid,  and  be  urged  to  maintain  a 
quiet  and  patient  demeanor  ;  fifth,  but  finally,  when  the  above 
conditions  have  been  met,  aid  should  be  asked  for  without 
hesitation,  and  with  a  clear  conscience,  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case. 

"A  great  majority  of  the  seventy-three  missionaries  would 
endorse  what  we  might  call  a  friendly,  temperate  presentation 
of  the  facts  to  the  official  as  a  beginning.  Some  would  stop 
here.  The  majority  would  however,  proceed  to  sterner  meas- 
ures, if  necessary,  to  secure  justice.  Some  would  work  di- 
rectly with  the  official,  others  through  the  consul.  " 

As  to  the  results  of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  con- 
crete cases  of  intervention  cited,  "  fifty-three  are  reported  to 
have  been  of  benefit  to  the  church,  twenty-six  are  characterized 
as  doubtful,  four  as  mixed  and  sixty-seven  as  bad."  This 
leaves  the  remaining  cases,  "suspended  in  the  air,"  and  Mr. 
Bergen  conjectures  that  "perhaps  the  missionary  felt  in  such 
a  confused  mental  state  at  their  conclusion  that  he  was  quite 
unable  to  work  out  the  complicated  equation  of  their  results. 

"  But  surely  the  result  that  only  fifty-three  cases  are  re- 
ported to  have  been  of  unmistakable  benefit,  while  sixty- 
seven  are  set  down  as  resulting  in  evil,  ought  to  give  us 
thought.     In  short,  in  the  yamen  intercession  in  behalf  of 


74 

prosecuted  Christians,  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  seventy- 
three  missionaries  that,  as  a  matter  of  personal  experience, 
sixty-seven  cases  have  wrought  only  evil,  while  only  fifty- 
three  have  been  productive  of  good.  The  balance  is  on  the 
wrong  side.  We  must  decide,  in  view  of  these  replies,  that 
there  exists  in  general  rather  a  pessimistic  opinion  as  to  the 
advantages  of  applying  to  the  yamen  in  behalf  of  Christians." 

In  reply  to  another  question,  "nearly  one-third  of  the 
correspondents  noted  that  Christians,  under  their  care  or  m 
their  neighborhood,  have  been  guilty  of  prosecuting  lawsuits 
for  private  gain,  using  the  name  of  the  Church,  and  have 
taken  thereby  unfair  advantage  of  their  unbelieving  neigh- 
bors, who  feared  the  power  of  the  foreigner."  Two-thirds, 
however,  reply  that  they  have  had  no  such  experience. 

"Summing  up  briefly  the  results  of  this  inquiry,  we  note 
the  following  points,  which  will  embody  the  views  of  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  Protestant  missionaries  of  experience 
in  this  Empire  : 

"  First — That  it  is  highly  desirable  to  keep  church  troubles 
out  of  the  yamen,  but  that  there  are  times  when  we  cannot 
do  so  without  violating  our  sense  of  justice  and  our  sense  of 
duty  toward  an  injured  brother. 

"  Second  —  Official  assistance  is  to  be  sought  in  such 
troubles  only  when  all  other  means  of  relief  have  been  tried 
in  vain.     Always  seek  to  settle  these  clifflculties  out  of  court. 

"  Third  —  When  official  assistance  is  requested,  our  bear- 
ing should  be  friendly  and  courteous  in  the  spirit,  at  least  in 
the  first  instance,  of  asking  a  favor  of  the  oflficial,  rather 
than  demanding  a  right.  If  the  oilcial  seems  quite  insensi- 
ble to  such  a  spirit,  a  severer  attitude  may  become  neces- 
sary. Nevertheless,  we  should  be  extremely  careful  about 
trying  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  an  ofificial. 

"  Fourth — In  the  presence  of  the  native  Christian,  and 
especially  of  those  chiefly  concerned,  as  well  as  in  our  own 
closets,  we  should  cherish  a  deep  sense  of  our  absolute  de- 
pendence on  heavenly  rather  than  on  earthly  protection,  and 
remind  the  Christians  that,  as  Dr.  Taylor  has  so  tersely  put 
it,  their  duty  is  '  to  do  good,  suffer  for  it  and  take  it  patiently.' 

"  Fifth — Only  in  grave  cases  should  matters  be  pushed  to 
the  point  of  controversy  or  formal  appeal. 

"  Sixth — Christians  and  evangelists  should  be  solemnly 
warned  against  betraying  an  arrogant  spirit  upon  the  suc- 
cessful termination  of  any  trouble. 

"  Seventh — Previous  to  the  carrying  of  a  case  before  the 
official,  let  the  missionary  be  sure  of  his  facts.  Each  case 
should  be  patiently,  thoroughly  and  firmly  examined.  Re- 
ceive individual  testimony  with  judicious  reserve.  Be  not 
easily  blinded  by  appeals    to    the  emotions.     Be  especially 


75 

ready  to  receive  any  one  from  the  opposition,  and  give  his 
words  due  weight.  Do  not  be  too  exclusively  influenced  by 
the  judgment  of  any  one  man,  however  trusted. 

"  Eighth — In  the  course  of  negotiation  beware  of  insist- 
ing on  monetary  compensation  for  the  injured  Christian.  In 
greatly  aggravated  cases  this  may  occasionally  be  unavoid- 
able. But  should  it  be  made  a  condition  of  settlement,  see 
to  it  that  the  damages  are  under,  rather  than  over,  what 
might  have  been  demanded.  It  is  almost  sure  to  cause  sub- 
sequent trouble,  both  within  and  without,  if  a  Christian  re- 
ceives money  under  such  circumstances. 

"  Ninth — When  unhappily  involved  in  a  persecution  case 
with  the  official,  we  should  remember  that  we  are  not  law- 
yers, and  therefore  make  no  stand  on  legal  technicalities,  nor 
allow  ourselves  to  take  a  threatening  attitude,  although  we 
may  be  subjected  to  provocation  ;  we  should  be  patient,  digni- 
fied and  strong  in  the  truth,  making  it  clear  to  the  official 
that  this  is  all  that  we  seek  in  order  that  the  ends  of  justice 
may  be  satisfied. 

"  Tenth — It  would  be  well  on  every  fitting  occasion  to  ex- 
hort thos,e  under  our  care  to  avoid  frequenting  yamens  or 
cultivating  intimacy  with  their  inhabitants,  unless,  indeed, 
we  feel  assured  that  their  motive  is  the  same  as  that  animat- 
ing our  Lord  when  He  mingled  with  publicans  and  sinners. 

"  Eleventh — The  higher  and  more  vivid  the  religious  con- 
ceptions of  our  people,  the  less  fascinating  will  that  which  is 
purely  secular  become.  If  we  can  succeed  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  filling  them  with  spiritual  power  they  will  care  less  for  the 
petty  influence  and  notoriety  that  comes  from  the  great  gate 
of  the  yamen." 

The  Interdenominational  Committee  of  Protestant  Mis- 
sionaries in  China  already  referred  to  makes  the  following 
statement  on  this  subject :  "  To  the  charge  that  missionaries 
have  excited  hostility  by  interfering  in  native  litigation  in  the 
interests  of  their  converts  in  courts  of  justice,  we  need  only 
say  that  even  by  the  Chinese  officials  themselves  this  charge 
is  rarely  preferred  against  the  Protestant  section  of  the  mis- 
sionary body.  In  flagrant  cases  of  persecution  missionaries 
have  felt  it  their  duty  to  support  members  of  their  churches, 
and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  occasionally  natives  have  secured 
the  influence  of  the  foreigner  in  an  unworthy  cause.  But  in- 
terference in  native  litigation  as  such  receives  no  support 
from  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  general  body." 

This  was  doubtless  all  the  space  that  could  be  devoted  to 
the  subject  within  the  limits  of  a  general  statement  on  the 
crisis  in  China.     But,  in  view  of  the  gravity  of  the  charge 
the  widespread  anxiety  of  many  friends  of  missions  regard- 
ing it,  and  in  view  also  of  the  desirability  of  correcting  any 


76 

unfortunate  impression  created  by  individual  exceptions  and 
of  guiding  new  missionaries  by  placing  at  their  command  the 
accumulated  experience  of  the  older  ones,  would  it  not  be 
well  for  our  missions  in  China  to  give  fuller  and  more  formal 
expression  to  their  policy  on  this  subject  ?  Such  expression 
need  not  be  primarily  defensive,  but  a  clear,  adequate  and 
positive  statement  of  the  convictions  and  practice  of  the  mis- 
sionaries as  to  this  very  important  particular. 

THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  CHINESE  CHRISTIANS. 

The  behavior  of  the  native  converts  under  the  baptism  of 
blood  and  fire  to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  is  a  source 
of  joy  to  the  missionaries^  not  unmingled,  however,  with 
grief.  That  some  should  have  fallen  away  was  to  have  been 
expected.  Not  every  Christian,  even  in  the  United  States, 
can  "  endure  hardness."  Let  one  hundred  men  anywhere  be 
told  that  if  they  continue  to  hold  a  given  faith  their  homes 
will  be  burned,  their  business  ruined,  their  wives  ravished, 
their  children  brained,  and  they  themselves  scourged  and  be- 
headed, and  a  proportion  of  them  will  flinch. 

It  was  to  have  been  expected,  too,  that  when,  after  the 
uprising,  the  Christians  found  their  side  in  the  ascendent, 
triumphing  over  a  prostrate  foe,  some  of  them  should  unduly 
exult  and  take  advantage  of  their  opportunity  to  punish  their 
enemies  or  to  collect  money  from  them  as  the  price  of  pro- 
tection. The  spirit  of  retaliation  is  strong  in  human  nature 
in  China  as  well  as  in  America.  When  the  armies  of  the 
Allies,  led  by  educated  and  experienced  officers,  and  con- 
trolled by  diplomats  from  old-established  Christian  countries, 
gave  way  under  the  provocation  of  the  time  to  the  most  vin- 
dictive cruelty,  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  of  the  Chinese 
Christians,  only  just  emerged  from  heathenism,  should  betray 
a  revengeful  spirit  toward  men  who  had  destroyed  their 
property,  slaughtered  their  wives  and  children,  and  hunted 
the  survivors  with  the  ferocity  of  wolves.  In  some  places 
the  missionaries  have  had  a  hard  task  in  restraining  this 
spirit.  It  was  inevitable,  also,  that  in  the  confusion  which 
followed  the  victory  of  the  foreigners,  some  wolves  should 
put  on  "  sheep's  clothing,"  and,  under  the  pretense  of  being 
Christians,  extort  money  from  the  terror-stricken  villagers, 
or  try  to  deceive  the  foreigner  with  false  claims  for  indemnity. 

But,  as  I  have  visited  the  scenes  of  disaster,  heard  the 
stories  of  Christians  and  missionaries,  and  learned  more  of 
the  awful  ordeal  through  which  they  passed,  I  have  marveled, 
not  that  some  yielded  to  the  temptations  of  the  hour,  but 
that  more  did  not  yield.  Multitudes  of  those  Christians 
withstood  a  persecution  as  frightful  as  that  of  the  early  dis- 
ciples in  the  gardens  and  arenas  of  Nero.     Edicts  were  post- 


77 

ed  commanding  them  to  recant,  and  promising  protection  to 
those  who  obeyed.  If  they  were  hypocrites,  "rice  Christians," 
why  did  they  not  return  to  their  old  faith  ?  As  Dr.  Babcock 
truly  said,  "One-tenth  of  the  hypocrisy  with  which  they  were 
charged  would  have  saved  them  from  martyrdom."  But 
thousands  of  them  died  rather  than  abjure  their  faith,  and 
thousands  more  "  had  trial  of  mockings  and  scourgings  ;  yea, 
moreover  of  bonds  and  imprisonment ;  they  were  starved, 
they  were  tempted ;  being  destitute,  afifiicted,  tormented ; 
wandering  in  deserts  and  mountains  and  caves  and  the  holes 
of  the  earth,"  "  of  whom,"  in  very  truth,  "  the  world  was  not 
worthy." 

One  of  the  most  trying  experiences  of  the  missionaries 
has  been  the  dealing  with  those  who  did  recant.  Some  of 
the  cases  are  pitiful.  Poor,  ignorant  men  confess  their  sin 
with  streaming  eyes,  saying  that  they  did  not  mean  to  deny 
their  Lord,  but  that  they  could  not  see  their  wives  outraged 
and  their  babies'  heads  crushed  against  stone  walls.  Others 
admit  that,  though  they  stood  firm  while  one  hundred  blows 
were  rained  upon  their  bare,  bleeding  backs,  after  that  they 
became  confused  and  were  only  dimly  conscious  of  what  they 
said  to  escape  further  agony  than  flesh  and  blood  could  en- 
dure. Still  others  made  a  distinction,  imfamiliar  to  us,  but 
quite  in  harmony  with  Oriental  hereditary  notions,  between 
the  convictions  of  the  heart  and  the  profession  of  the  lips,  so 
that  they  externally  and  temporarily  bowed  their  heads  to 
the  storm  without  feeling  that  they  were  thereby  renouncing 
their  faith.  One  of  the  best  Chinese  ministers  in  Shant.ung, 
after  two  hundred  lashes,  which  pounded  his  back  into  a  pulp, 
feebly  replied  in  the  afifirmative  to  the  question  :  "  Will  you 
leave  the  devils'  church  ?  "  But  he  explained  afterwards  that, 
while  he  promised  to  leave  "  the  devils'  church,"  he  did  not 
promise  to  leave  Christ's  church.  The  deception  was  not  as 
apparent  to  him  as  it  is  to  us,  whose  moral  perceptions  have 
been  sharpened  by  centuries  of  Christian  nurture  which  have 
been  denied  to  the  Chinese. 

When  the  proclamation  ordering  the  extermination  of  all 
foreigners  and  Christians  was  posted  on  the  walls  of  Ching 
Chou  Fu,  a  friendly  official  hinted  that  if  the  Chinese  pastors 
would  sign  a  document  to  the  effect  that  they  would  "no 
longer  practice  the  foreign  religion,"  he  would  accept  it  as 
sufficient  on  behalf  of  all  their  flocks,  and  not  enforce  the 
order.  Warrants  for  the  arrest  of  every  Christian  were  al- 
ready written.  Ruffians  were  hurrying  in  from  distant  vil- 
lages to  join  in  the  riot  of  plunder  and  lust.  Two  women 
had  already  been  killed.  What  were  the  pastors  to  do  ? 
There  was  no  missionary  to  guide  them,  for  long  before  the 
consuls  had  ordered  all  foreigners  out  of  the  interior.     The 


78 

agonized  pastors,  after  much  prayer,  determined  to  sacrifice 
themselves  for  their  innocent  people,  to  go  through  the  form 
of  giving  up  the  "foreign"  religion.  That  word  foreign  must 
be  emphasized  to  understand  their  temptation,  for  "our  breth- 
ren do  not  recognize  the  faith  they  profess  as  foreign,  but  as 
from  God  for  all  peoples."  Moreover,  the  "pastors  were 
made  to  understand  that  it  was  simply  a  legal  fiction,  not  af- 
fecting the  religion  of  their  hearts,  and  only  a  temporary  ex- 
pedient, that  the  magistrate  might  have  a  pretext  for-  giving 
his  protection  to  the  Christians.  They  were  not  to  engage 
in  any  idolatrous  rite;  they  were  not  to  make  any  public  apos- 
tasy, but  simply  to  sign  the  document  with  the  one  sentence, 
*No  longer  to  practice  the  foreign  religion.'  'So  far  from  re- 
canting,' it  was  urged  upon  them,  'you  are  preventing  recant- 
ing.'" 

Their  decision  may  be  best  given  in  the  words  of  Pastor 
Wu  Chien  Ch'eng:  "When  I  thought  of  these  people,"  he 
said,  his  emotion  being  so  great  the  tears  were  running  down 
his  face,  "in  most  cases  with  children  and  aged  parents  de- 
pendent upon  them,  and  thought  of  all  that  was  involved  for 
them  if  I  refused  to  sign  the  paper — well,  I  couldn't  help  it. 
I  decided  to  take  on  myself  the  shame  and  the  sin." 

Though  these  pastors  were  not  Presbyterians,  I  have  de- 
scribed their  case  because  it  is  so  thoroughly  illustrative  of 
many  of  the  recantations  in  all  denominations.  As  the  Rev. 
J.  P.  Bruce  truly  says: 

"Who  could  listen  to  such  a  narrative — so  sad  and  painful, 
and  yet  not  without  much  that  was  noble — without  sympathy 
and  tears?  One  could  not  look  into  their  faces  without  pain. 
Instead  of  the  usual  bright,  affectionate  and  frank  expression, 
they  seemed  to  be  almost  cowed,  and  yet  with  a  half-wistful, 
half-challenging  look,  as  if  to  say:  'Were  we  not  right  to  do 
wrong  for  such  a  cause  ?'  But  with  the  pain  there  was  one 
thought  that  gave  comfort.  Though  our  brethren  had  failed 
in  the  hour  of  trial,  they  had  taken  this  step,  not  to  save 
themselves,  but  for  the  sake  of  others.  And  better  than  all' 
else,  they  had  not  ceased  to  love  their  Master,  even  though 
they  had  outwardly  denied  Him.  If  only  they  could  realize 
how  much  they  had  wounded  Him,  there  would  not  be  want- 
ing such  penitence  as  should  turn  this  failure  into  rich  bless- 
ing." 

In  this  spirit  of  tenderness,  so  marked  in  the  Lord's  deal- 
ings with  sinful  Peter,  the  missionaries  are  dealing  with  the 
recanting  Christians. 

With  the  impostors,  indeed,  they  have  justly  had  less 
mercy.  Mr.  Mateer  secured  the  arrest  of  two  scapegraces 
who,  under  pretense  of  being  Christians,  had  blackmailed  in- 
nocent villagers,  one  having  forged  a  letter  in  Mr.  Chalfant's 


79 

name,  and  collected  considerable  sums  on  his  alleged  behalf. 
Very  plainly,  too,  did  the  missionaries  deal  with  Christians, 
who,  like  some  good  people  in  the  United  States  after  a  fire, 
placed  an  extravagant  valuation  upon  what  they  had  lost. 
Mr.  Chalfant  had  to  publicly  denounce  one  outstation  leader 
who  insisted  on  collecting  exorbitant  sums  from  the  Boxer 
participants  in  the  anti-foreign  riots  in  his  village. 

But  these  were  exceptional  cases.  Loving  and  prayerful 
conference  was  the  course  followed  wherever  practicable. 
Witness  the  following  resolutions  adopted  by  the  East  and 
West  Shantung  Missions,  in  joint  session,  December  1,  1900, 
"in  reference  to  those  Christians,  who  through  stress  of  per- 
secution have  denied  their  faith"  : 

"We  first  desire  to  express  our  joy  and  gratitude  to  God 
that  so  many  of  our  native  brethren,  though  placed  for  a  time 
in  imminent  peril  or  subjected  to  actual  distress,  ha^fe  re- 
mained steadfast  and  immovable,  witnessing  a  good  profes- 
sion. But  we  record  with  sorrow  that  others  have  fallen 
away,  though  in  their  behalf  we  must  maintain  that,  as  a 
rule,  they  recanted,  first,  because  of  the  suddenness  and  im- 
minence of  the  peril;  second,  because  of  the  enforced  ab- 
sence of  their  natural  spiritual  advisers,  and  the  impossibility 
of  obtaining  relief  through  them;  third,  because  of  lamenta- 
tions, reproaches  or  threats  of  their  heathen  relatives,  friends 
or  neighbors,  who  regarded  their  own  safety  or  interests  as 
jeopardized;  fourth,  because  of  a  lack  of  definite  conception 
as  to  the  serious  character  of  such  a  step  as  recantation, 
which  they  regarded  in  most  cases  as  a  more  or  less  justi- 
fiable expedient  to  escape  destruction.  In  short,  there  was 
not  present  in  the  minds  of  the  Christians  the  idea  of  aban- 
doning their  faith,  but  only  in  their  weakness  and  defense- 
lessness  of  bending  before  the  storm. 

"We  recognize,  however,  the  fact  that  the  gravity  of  the 
sin  was  of  different  degrees  in  diilerent  cases.  Therefore, 
resolved, 

"1.  That  there  be  a  careful  investigation  of  each  case,  if 
at  all  possible,  on  the  spot,  by  the  missionary  or  pastor  in 
charge. 

"2.  That  the  Christians  be  dealt  with  in  a  spirit  of  ten- 
derness rather  than  severity,  remembering  ourselves  lest  we 
also  be  tempted. 

"3.  It  is  recommended  that  where  the  Christians  have 
signed  recantations  under  oflficial  pressure  they  be  exhorted 
to  formally  withdraw  such  recantation  before  readmission  to 
fellow^ship  in  the  Church.  The  means  of  accomplishing  this 
to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  missionaries  of  each  station, 
but  it  is  recommended  that  after  the  facts  have  been  ascer- 
tained a  communication  be  prepared  for  the  official  of  each 


8o 

Hsien,  giving  a  list  of  the  names  of  those  who  recanted  un- 
der fear,  but  who  now  desire  to  withdraw  such  recantation, 
at  the  same  time  expressing  their  loyalty  as  Chinese  subjects. 

"4.  It  is  recommended  that,  should  there  be  those  who 
give  no  evidence  of  having  been  truly  attached  to  the  truth, 
or  those  who  manifest  a  disposition  to  remain  outside  the 
Church,  abiding  by  their  recantation  with  no  sign  of  repent- 
ance, they  should  be  disciplined,  after  having  been  heard, 
first  by  suspension,  and  finally,  by  excommunication. 

"5.  A  large  measure  of  discretion  must  be  allowed  each 
missionary  in  his  own  field  in  the  application  of  cases  com- 
ing before  him. 

"6.  That  special  attention  be  paid  to  the  instruction  of 
the  Chinese  as  to  the  nature  of  recantation,  the  necessity  of 
repentance,  and  the  justice  of  the  discipline  to  be  admin- 
istered." 

Will  not  the  Board  and  the  Church  at  home  continue  in 
intercessory  prayer  for  our  fellow  Christians- in  China  who 
have  been  called  upon  to  suffer  so  much  for  Christ?  Puri- 
fied and  chastened  by  the  fearful  holocaust  through  which 
they  have  passed,  they  are  smaller  numerically  but  stronger 
spiritually  than  ever  before.  May  we  not  confidently  expect 
that,  like  the  apostles  after  Pentecost,  they  will  go  forth  to 
give  "with  great  power  their  witness^  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,"  and  that  "great  grace  'may  be'  upon 
them  all"  ? 

Prominent  among  the  problems  of  reconstruction  which 
now  confront   us  is, 

SHALL    WE    WITHDRAW   THE    PEKING    MISSION? 

In  the  Missionary  Revieiv  of  the  World,  for  October,  1900, 
Hon.  Charles  Denby,  then  United  States  Minister  to  Peking, 
wrote: 

"With  all  due  deference  to  the  great  missionary  societies 
who  have  these  matters  in  charge,  my  judgment  is  that  mis- 
sionary work  in  China  has  been  overdone.  *  *  *  Take  Pe- 
king as  an  example.  As  given  in  this  Review,  in  its  issue 
of  September,  1900,  there  were  located  at  Peking  the  follow- 
ing Protestant  missions:  American  Roard,  American  Presby- 
terian (North),  American  Methodist  (North),  Christian  and 
Missionary  Alliance,  International  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  London  Missionary  Society,  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  International  Institute,  Mission 
for  Chinese  Blind,  Scotch  Bible  Society,  and  the  Society  for 
Diffusion  of  Christian  Knowledge.  To  these  must  be  added 
the  Church  of  England  Mission,  and  English  Baptist  Mission 
and  the  Swedish  Mission.  The  above  list  shows  that  of 
American   societies  alone    there  werj  seven  in   Peking,  not 


8i 

counting-  the  Peking  University,  and  that  all  Western  Powers 
taken  collectively,  were  represented  by  about  twenty  Mis- 
sions. *  *  *  A  careful  study  of  the  situation  would  seem  to 
suggest  that  no  two  American  societies  should  occupy  the 
same  district." 

The  East  and  West  Shantung  Missions  in  joint  meeting 
December,  1900,  endorsed  this  view  and  expressed  the 
opinion,  that  advantage  should  be  taken  of  the  destruction 
of  our  property  to  discontinue  Peking  as  a  station  of  our 
Board  on  account  of  "the  greater  need  elsewhere  in  Chihli, 
in  view  of  the  devastation  of  Paotingfu  and  contemplated 
new  work  in  that  province." 

The  Peking  Mission  itself  sent  a  communication  to  the 
North  China  Mission  of  the  American  Board  proposing  "an 
exchange  of  all  work  and  fields  of  our  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  Province  of  Chihli  in  return  for  the  work  and  fields  of 
the  American  Board  Mission  in  the  Province  of  Shantung, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  our  respective  Boards."  The 
Mission  added:  "It  means  no  little  sacrifice  to  sever  at- 
tachments made  in  long  years  of  service  in  fields  and 
among  a  people  whom  God  has  enabled  us  to  lead  to  Christ, 
but  we  feel  that  a  high  spirit  of  loyalty  to  Christ  and  his 
cause,  inspiring  all  concerned,  will  lead  us  to  set  aside  per- 
sonal preferences  and  attachments,  if  thereby  the  greater 
interests  of  his  Church  in  China  can  be  conserved." 

I  was  at  pains  to  talk  over  the  question  with  many  mis- 
sionaries of  various  denominations.  With  the  Peking  Mis- 
sion in  particular  I  frankly  conferred,  stating  that,  as  the 
question  had  been  raised,  and  as  the  total  destruction  of  all 
our  mission  property  gave  us  opportunity  for  reconsidering 
our  position  in  Peking,  we  should  go  thoroughly  into  the 
subject,  and  either  transfer  the  missionaries  and  money  to 
Shantung,  or  else  have  a  reason  for  rebuilding  which  would 
satisfy  our  own  judgments  and  those  of  our  brethren  else- 
where. With  a  single  desire  to  know  what  was  best,  and 
'to  be  guided  by  the  spirit  of  God,  we  spent  whole  days 
traversing  the  entire  ground.  Not  content  with  this,  we 
called  a  meeting  of  all  the  missionaries  of  other  Boards  rep- 
resented in  Peking.  Such  men  as  the  Rev.  Drs.  Sheffield, 
of  the  American  Board,  Owen,  of  the  London  Mission  and 
Lowry  and  Headland  of  the  Methodist  Society,  were  among 
the  many  who  kindly  responded.  I  candidly  sought  their 
counsel,  telling  them  that  we  should  take  it  for  granted  that 
their  personal  wishes  would  be  for  us  to  remain,  but  urging 
the  importance  of  an  impartial  consideration  of  the  question 
raised  by  Mr.  Denby  and  others  as  to  whether  there  is  not  a 
disproportionate  "congestion  of  mission  enterprises"  in 
Peking,  and  whether,  considering  the  great  needs  elsewhere. 


82 

we  ought  not  to  take  advantage  of  the  present  opportunity 
to  make  any  readjustments  which  would  promote  efficiency 
and  economy,  and  I  quoted  the  action  of  our  Board  which 
was  unanimously  approved  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
1900  that,  "the  time  has  come  for  a  larger  union  and  co- 
operation in  mission  work  and  where  church  union  cannot 
be  attained,  the  Board  and  the  missions  will  seek  such  divi- 
sions of  territory  as  will  leave  as  large  districts  as  possible 
to  the  exclusive  care  and  development  of  separate  agencies." 
I  added  that  we  did  not  desire  this  action  to  be  considered 
merely  a  glittering  generality  on  paper,  but  as  our  definite 
working  policy,  to  be  given  practical  eiTect  in  every  proper 
way.  In  subsequent  interviews  at  Tientsin  and  elsewhere, 
I  obtained  the  views  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  H.  Smith 
and  others. 

The  result  of  all  these  conferences  was  the  unanimous 
and  emphatic  judgment  of  the  missionaries  of  other  Boards 
as  well  as  of  our  own  Board  that  there  is  not  "a  congestion  of 
missionary  societies  in  Peking,"  and  that  Presbyterians  can- 
not be  spared  without  serious  injury  to  the  cause. 

The  reasons  for  retaining  our  Peking  Mission  are: 

1.  The  reply  of  the  North  China  Mission  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  to  the  proposal  of  our  Mission  as  follows: 

"Peking,  May  3,  1901. 
"7c  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission.,   Peking: 

''Dear  Brethren — We  have  received  with  great  interest 
the  communication  brought  to  us  by  two  of  your  number, 
and  having  listened  to  its  reading,  have  deliberated  upon  its 
subject  matter.  We  fully  appreciate  the  cordial  tone  mani- 
fested, and  heartily  reciprocate  the  earnest  desire  that  our 
missions  may  be  guided  to  take  whatever  steps  may  be 
necessary  for  the  best  advancement  of  the  kingdon  of  God  in 
the  territory  within  which  we  work,  wherever  that  may  lie. 
After  considering  the  matter  in  all  its  bearings  we  are  con- 
strained to  say,  first,  that  we  contemplate  with  regret  any 
plan  which  looks  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion from  the  field  whieh-^iey  have  soTTdng  occupied  in 
Northern  Chihli,  since,  however  explained,  this  would  look 
like  a  retrograde  step  for  the  mission  and  a  confession  of  at 
least  partial  failure  which,  more  than  ever  before,  is  at  the 
present  time  undesirable.  We  think  that  instead  of  illus- 
trating comity  this  would  appear  as  if  comity  was  not  to 
be  attained  without  a  violent  dislocation  from  long-establish- 
ed foundations,  and  that  in  this  particular  there  would  be  a 
definite  loss  all  around.  We  also  regret  the  suggestion 
that  the  Presbyterian  Mission  withdraw  from  fields  which 
h^ve  now  been  reconsecrated  by  the  death  of  their  martyrs, 
and  we  cannot  but  think   that   this  action,   especially   in  the 


83 

case  of  Paotingfu,  would  have  a  chilling  effect  upon  the 
churches  at  home  which  are  now  being  roused  to  fresh  activ- 
ity to  repair  the  serious  losses  and  the  martyrdom  of  the 
past  year.  The  abrupt  removal  from  that  city  would  also 
sacrifice  for  your  mission  the  hardly  bought  and  priceless 
good-will  which  the  work  of  Mr.  Lowrie  has  earned  for  you 
during  the  past  many  months,  an  advantage  not  lightly  to  be 
resigned,  and  which  will  be  of  permanent  value  in  the  future. 
We  further  deprecate  the  proposed  step  because  there  is 
now  an  excellent  opportunity  for  the  adoption  of  actual 
measures  of  co-operation  between  our  respective  missions. 
We  already  have  a  field  sufficiently  large,  and  it  can  be  inde- 
finitely expanded  in  some  directions  without  involving  the 
removal  of  an  entire  mission  to  another  province. 

"With  regard  to  the  infelicities  of  the  boundaries  of  the 
areas  which  we  have  hitherto  worked,  we  are  ready  to  read- 
just these  boundaries  in  such  a  way  as  to  remedy  the  waste 
of  effort  in  the  crossing  of  one  another's  territory,  and  this, 
we  hope,  will  not  be  found  to  be  a  difficult  matter.    *    *  *  * 

"We  are  confident  that  the  ultimate  outcome  could  not 
fail  to  be  a  greater  benefit  than  the  sudden  rupture  of  long- 
existing  relations  for  the  sake  of  mere  geographical  conti- 
guity of  the  work  of  missions  like  yours  and  ours,  each  keep- 
ing its  own  district,  careful  not  to  encroach  upon  the  other. 
In  the  higher  unity  here  suggested  we  should  expect  to  rea- 
lize larger  results  in  the  promotion  of  comity  not  only,  but 
also  in  the  best  interests  of  that  kingdom  of  God  for  which 
we  are  each  laboring. 

"In  the  prayer  that  we  may  be  divinely  guided  in  this 
and  in  all  other  decisions,  we  remain  on  behalf  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  of  Mission, 

"(Signed)  Arthur  H.  Smith, 

D.  Z.  Sheffield, 

"Committee." 

This  letter,  like  the  one  from  our  Mission  to  which  it 
is  a  reply,  breathes  a  delightful  spirit  of  comity.  While 
the  P'ang  Ch'uang  and  Lin  Ch'ing  stations  of  the  American 
Board  in  Shantung  would  add  largely  to  the  strength  and  in- 
fluence of  our  work  in  that  Province,  and  while  they  are  with- 
in such  distance  of  our  stations  that  we  could  effectively 
work  them,  yet  we  can  appreciate  the  reluctance  of  our  Con- 
gregational brethren  to  leave  fields  with  which  they  have 
been  associated  for  more  than  a  score  of  years,  especially  as 
their  work  at  P'ang  Ch'uang  is  among  the  very  best  and 
most  promising  they  have  in  all  North  China. 

2.  The  ties  formed  with  the  China  Christians  and  people 
in  thirty-eight  years  of  continuous  missionary  work,  during 
which  our  missionaries  have  become  widely  known  and  have 


84 


acquired  large  influence — an  influence  which  cannot  be  trans- 
ferred without  serious  loss. 

3.  Several  of  the  agencies  enumerated  by  the  Hon. 
Charles  Denby,  such  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  International 
Institute,  the  Mission  to  the  Blind,  the  various  Bible  Socie- 
ties, the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Christian  Knowledge, 
etc.,  are  not  competing  missionary  agencies  at  all,  but  are 
doing  a  special  work  along  such  separate  lines  that  it  is  un- 
fair to  take  them  into  consideration.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
with  the  exception  of  a  comparatively  small  work  by  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  the  real  mission- 
ary work  is  being  done  by  only  four  Boards — the  American, 
Methodist,  London,  and  Presbyterian.  This  is  not  a  dis- 
proportionate number,  considering  the  fact  that  Peking  is  one 
of  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  and  the  capital  of  an  Empire 
of  four  hundred  millions  of  people,  and  considering  also  that 
the  work  of  these  Boards  is  not  merely  local,  but  that  it  in- 
cludes a  vast  surrounding  region. 

In  the  Paotingfu  station  our  Board  and  the  American 
Board  are  the  only  agencies  represented,  the  China  Inland 
Mission  having  simply  a  forwarding  agent  for  its  extensive 
work  in  the  Shan-si  Province,  Paotingfu  being  the  point 
where  the  transfer  is  made  from  the  river  and  railroad  to 
overland  carts  and  shendzas.  The  China  Inland  missionar- 
ies inform  me  that  they  have  no  local  work  at  Paotingfu,  and 
do  not  expect  to  have  any. 

4.  It  is  not  true  that  the  poplation  of  Chihli  is  small  com- 
pared with  that  of  Shantung.  Colquhoun  says,  in  his  vol- 
ume on  "China  in  Transformation,"  that  whereas  the  Shan- 
tung Province  has  an  area  of  fifty-five  thousand  square 
miles,  and  a  population  of  thirty  millions,  the  Chihli  pro- 
vince has  an  area  of  fifty-seven  thousand  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  thirty-six  millions.  This  is  probaby  an  under 
estimate  for  vShantung,  which  I  was  told  has  about  thirty- 
five  millions,  but  even  at  this  figure  Chihli  is  the  larger. 
For  this  enormous  field  the  missionary  agencies  now  at 
work  are  really  few.  Hundreds  of  American  cities  of  half 
a  million  inhabitants  have  a  greater  number  of  ordained 
workers  than  this  entire  province,  with  a  population  half  as 
large  as  that  of  the  United  States. 

5.  Our  Mission  occupies  a  large  and  distinct  geographical 
field  in  this  Province.  By  common  consent,  all  that  portion 
of  the  city  and  suburbs  of  Peking  north  of  the  line  of  the 
Forbidden  City,  with  a  population  of  about  two  hundred  thou- 
and,  is  Presbyterian  territory.  No  other  Mission  Board  is 
located  in  that  part  of  Peking.  Our  missionaries  and  their 
work  are  known  there  and  have  the  good-will  of  the  people. 
In  the  country,  the  counties  of  San  Ho,  Huai  Jou,  Pao  Ti,  to 


85 

the  north  and  east  of  Peking,  are  also  understood  to  be  dis- 
tinctively Presbyterian  ground.  San  Ho  County  alone  is 
said  to  have  twelve  hundred  villages,  while  the  others  are 
also  very  populous.  No  other  Protestant  denomination  is 
working  in  any  of  these  counties.  We  also  have  some  work 
in  the  counties  of  Chi  Chou  and  Ch'ang  P'ing  Chou.  At 
Paotingfu,  the  American  Board  and  our  Board  have  made  a 
division  of  the  field,  the  former  taking  everything  south  of  a 
line  drawn  through  the  centre  of  the  city  and  our  mission- 
aries taking  everything  north  of  that  line.  The  field  thus  as- 
signed to  us  includes  not  only  half  the  city  of  Paotingfu,  but 
eleven  and  a  half  counties,  with  a  population  of  about  half 
a  million.  There  are  no  other  Protestant  workers  in  this 
large  field.  The  charge  I  once  heard  that  we  entered  Pao- 
tingfu against  the  judgment  of  the  North  China  Mission  and 
the  American  Board  who,  it  was  said,  considered  it  their  field, 
is  emphatically  denied  by  Dr.  Sheffield  for  the  Mission  and 
by  Dr.  Judson  Smith  for  the  Board,  the  latter  saying  to  me 
before  I  left  New  York,  "The  Presbyterians  established  a 
station  at  Paotingfu  with  our  understanding  and  approval." 

6.  Extensive  and  densely  inhabited  areas  of  the  Province 
are  not  being  worked  by  any  Board.  Dr.  Wherry,  who  has 
been  for  a  generation  in  the  Chihli  Province,  says  that  there 
are  a  hundred  times  as  many  people  in  the  Peking  field  as 
are  now  being  reached,  and  that  there  are  twenty  millions  in 
the  Province  who  have  never  yet  heard  of  Christ;  so  that 
there  is  room  for  an  almost  indefinite  extension  of  the  work. 

7.  The  missionaries  of  the  three  other  Boards  with  which 
we  really  divide  the  field — namely,  the  American  Board,  the 
London  Mission  and  the  Methodist  Board — plainly  state  that, 
in  the  event  of  our  withdrawal,  they  would  not  be  able  to 
care  for  the  work  which  we  would  leave.  They  say  that  they 
are  not  able  adequately  to  sustain  the  work  they  already 
have,  and  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to  hope  that 
their  home  Boards  would  find  it  possible  to  give  them  the 
reinforcements  in  men  and  money  which  would  be  required 
if  our  present  responsibilities  were  to  be  added  to  theirs. 
They  strongly  urge  that,  if  we  withdraw,  the  large  districts 
which  we  occupy  in  both  the  Peking  and  Paotingfu  fields 
would  simply  be  vacated,  and  that  the  influence  for  Christ 
acquired  by  our  faithful  missionaries  through  long  years  of 
toil  and  at  heavy  expense  would  be  lost. 

8.  The  question  whether  we  have  any  moral  right  to  de- 
sert the  work  which  we  have  developed  in  Chihli.  The  num- 
ber of  Christians  surviving  is  now  known  to  be  far  greater 
than  was  at  first  supposed.  Immediately  after  the  siege  we 
were  told  that  of  the  four  hundred  and  sixty  Christians  on 
the  roll  of  our  Mission,  only  sixty  were  known  to  be  living. 


86 

Since  then,  however,  they  have  been  coming  out  of  their  hid- 
ing places,  and  have  been  collected,  until  now  there  are 
known  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  still  alive.  In  quality 
they  are  second  to  no  other  Christians  in  China.  They  have 
been  purified  as  with  fire.  They  have  stood  the  test  of  a  per- 
secution so  awful  as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  genuineness 
of  their  faith.  There  will,  indeed,  come  a  time  when  it  will 
be  the  duty  of  the  missionary  to  leave  the  native  Church  to 
itself.  But  is  this  the  time  to  go,  when  the  native  Church, 
instead  of  being  strong  and  able  to  care  for  itself,  is  torn  and 
bleeding  after  frightful  persecution  ?  Would  not  our  depart- 
ure now  expose  us  to  Christ's  rebuke  of  the  hireling  who 
"careth  not  for  the  sheep"?  These  Christians  look  to  our 
missionaries  as  to  their  spiritual  fathers  for  guidance  for  the 
future.  They  feel  with  us  that  the  time  has  come  for  a  new 
consecration  to  the  task  of  evangelizing  all  their  people.  As 
directed  by  our  missionaries,  they  may  become  a  great  influ- 
ence for  the  conversion  of  their  countrymen.  Ought  we  to 
leave  them  when  other  missionaries  expressly  tell  us  that 
they  cannot  care  for  them  ? 

9.  The  importance  of  exerting  a  strong  Christian  influ- 
ence in  the  capital  of  the  Empire.  If  there  is  any  place  in  all 
China  where  this  influence  ought  to  be  intensified,  it  is  Peking. 
The  Shanghai  Conference  of  1890  voted  that  a  city  of  pre- 
fectural  rank  should  not  be  considered  the  exclusive  territory 
of  any  one  Board ;  that  different  agencies  should  not  be 
multiplied  in  small  places,  but  that  in  cities  of  such  rank 
more  than  one  society  might  wisely  be  located.  Not  only  is 
Paotingfu  a  prefectural  city,  but  Peking  is  the  capital  of  the 
whole  Fympire.  It  is  granted  that  Christian  work  is  difficult 
on  this  account,  that  it  is  harder  to  convert  a  man  there  than 
in  a  country  village.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  more  in- 
fluential when  he  is  converted.  Peking  is  the  heart  of  China. 
Alone  of  all  its  cities,  it  is  visited  sooner  or  later  by  every 
ambitious  scholar  and  prominent  ofificial.  The  examinations 
for  the  higher  degrees  bring  to  it  myriads  of  the  brightest 
young  men  of  the  empire.  The  moral  effect  of  a  strong 
Christian  Church  in  Peking  will  be  felt  in  every  province. 
If  Christianity  is  to  be  a  positive  force  in  China,  and  is  ever 
to  regenerate  it,  it  cannot  afford  to  weaken  its  hold  in  the 
very  citadel  of  China's  power. 

10.  The  hopefulness  of  the  field.  The  missionaries  in- 
sist that,  considering  the  small  missionary  force  that  has 
been  available  for  itinerating  and  direct  evangelistic  work, 
the  field  has  been  reasonably  productive.  For  years  there 
was  only  one  man  who  could  do  country  work,  and  his  free- 
dom of  movement  was  limited  by  the  ill-health  of  his  wife. 
The  missionaries  declare  that  the  work  in  the  San  Ho  County 


87 

is  as  prosperous  as  that  in  any  county  in  Shantung,  and  that 
there  is  no  more  promising:  opening  in  all  China  than  Shun 
te  fu,  where  the  mission  desires  to  open  a  station  as  soon 
as  practicable.  The  missionaries  of  all  denominations  hope 
and  believe  that  there  is  to  be  a  great  spiritual  awakening  in 
North  China,  as  a  result  of  the  recent  troubles,  and  urge  that 
it  is  a  time  for  strengthening  our  forces  instead  of  weaken- 
ing them.  There  is  profound  significance  in  the  fact  that 
since  last  December  twenty  new  members  have  been  baptized 
in  the  Paotingfu  field. 

11.  The  extraordinary  influence  acquired  by  our  mission- 
aries in  connection  with  the  adjustment  of  recent  troubles. 
In  Paotingfu,  Mr.  Lowrie's  tact  and  wisdom  and  kindness 
have  softened  the  hearts  of  all  classes.  When  I  was  in 
Paotingfu,  evidences  were  abundant  that  he  had  won  the 
hearts  of  the  people  as  perhaps  no  other  missionary  in  China 
has  ever  won  them  before.  Alike  in  the  yamens  and  on  the 
streets,  he  was  treated  not  merely  with  respect,  but  with 
affection.  When  he  spoke  to  the  district  magistrate  about 
the  possibility  of  purchasing  a  larger  and  better-located  tract 
of  land  for  the  mission  compound  and  asked  permission 
to  buy  it,  the  magistrate  gave  him  an  evasive  answer, 
and  no  sooner  had  he  departed  than  the  magistrate  laid 
the  case  before  a  number  of  the  prominent  and  wealthy 
people  of  the  city,  and  they  immediately  subscribed  the  nec- 
essary sum  to  donate  the  entire  tract  of  sixteen  English 
acres  to  the  Board.  It  would  be  folly  to  sacrifice  the  oppor- 
tunity for  exerting  Christian  influence  which  has  been  thus 
acquired  in  this  powerful  city  of  Paotingfu,  and  in  the 
populous  region  which  surrounds  it.  Nor  are  such  feel- 
ings of  the  Chinese  confined  to  Paotingfu.  In  the  Peking 
station  field  as  well,  Chinese  who  are  not  Christians  have 
freely  expressed  their  gratitude  to  our  missionaries  for  the 
way  in  which  they  befriended  them  after  the  siege.  There 
have  been  many  remarkable  expressions  of  this  from 
nobles,  merchants  and  people.  At  a  time  when  so  many 
atrocities  have  been  committed  by  foreign  soldiers,  and 
when  the  people  have  been  the  prey  of  the  political  am- 
bitions of  European  Powers,  many  of  the  natives  feel  that 
our  Presbyterian  missionaries  have  shown  themselves  to  be 
true  friends.  This  is  a  substantial  reinforcement  of  our 
work  which  would  be  lost  if  we  were  to  withdraw. 

12.  The  call  which  comes  to  us  from  the  blood  of  the 
martyred  dead.  One  hundred  and  ninety-one  of  our  Chinese 
Christians  in  the  Chihli  Province  laid  down  their  lives  for 
Christ,  besides  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  inquirers.  Of 
these,  thirty-four3Lprp  Villprl  iii__the  Paotingfu  field,  though 
some  of  them  had  come  from  Peking,  which  station,  there- 


88 

fore,  bore  bj^  far  the  heavier  proportion  of  the  loss  in  Chinese 
Christians.  But  in  Paotingfu,  five  of  our  beloved  mission- 
aries met  death  for  Jesus'  sake.  The  soil  of  Chihli  has  been 
forever  consecrated  by  these  martyrdoms.  Can  we  leave  a 
place  made  sacred  to  us  by  such  associations  ? 

13.  Nor  should  we  be  unmindful  of  the  eiTect  of  with- 
drawal upon  the  home  chvirches.  God  has  ordained  that  mis- 
sionary work  shall  be  maintained  by  his  people.  Their  atti- 
tude toward  the  missionary  enterprise,  therefore,  is  one  of 
the  elements  which  we  cannot  ignore.  If  our  Government 
is  amenable  to  public  opinion,  much  more  must  the  Board 
heed  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  Church,  if  we  are  to 
command  its  confidence  and  receive  its  'CO-operation.  The 
catastrophe  in  China  has  centered  the  attention  of  the  whole 
Presbyterian  body  upon  China.  It  has  impressed  anew  upon 
God's  people  the  divine  character  of  the  missionary  obliga- 
tion, has  softened  hearts  and  deepened  consecration.  There 
is  encouraging  reason  to  believe  that  multitudes  at  home 
have  formed  a  high  and  holy  resolve  to  press  the  work  of 
world-evangelization  on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  before.  Out 
of  the  ashes  of  ruined  buildings  and  the  blood  of  beloved 
martyrs  and  the  tumult  of  furious  men,  a  new  and  sacred  re- 
solve has  been  formed  to  win  China  for  Christ.  While  mis- 
sionary work  everywhere  will  receive  the  benefit  of  this,  and 
particularly  the  work  in  all  parts  of  China,  is  it  not  true  that 
this  feeling  in  the  Church  centers  in  the  Peking  Mission, 
not  because  that  was  the  most  important  of  our  fields,  but 
because  it  was  the  place  where  the  memorable  siege  occurred, 
where  all  our  martyred  missionaries  and  nearly  all  our  Chinese 
Christians  fell.  To  leave  that  field  of  all  others,  just  now, 
would  be  to  sacrifice  that  moral  effect  which  every  general 
recognizes  as  so  important  in  warfare.  However  we  might 
explain  the  matter  to  ourselves  and  our  immediate  friends, 
the  withdrawal  would  be  interpreted  hj  the  general  public  as 
an  acknowledgment  of  defeat,  a  confession  that  we  had  been 
driven  from  a  strategic  position.  It  might  even  appear 
to  some  that  our  devoted  missionaries  had  died  in  vain,  and 
expose  us  to  the  charge  of  having  maintained  them  at  the 
cost  of  their  lives  at  an  unnecessary  point.  For  men  might 
say  :  "  If  you  ought  to  withdraw  from  Peking  at  all,  you  ought 
to  have  done  so  before  this  trouble  occurred.  No  new  ele- 
ment has  been  introduced  but  the  destruction  of  a  few  thous- 
and dollars'  worth  of  property,  which  can  be  easily  replaced. 
All  the  vital  reasons  that  ever  existed  for  sending  mission- 
aries to  the  Chihli  Province  exist  today  in  undiminished 
force."  We  might  persuade  ourselves  that  these  arguments 
were  unsound,  but  it  would  not  be  so  easy  to  persuade  the 
Church.     I  believe  that  the  moral   eflfect  of  withdrawal,  in 


89 

such  circumstances,  would  be  disastrous.  Rather  is  it^  the 
feeling  of  the  Church  that  like  Lincoln  at  Gettysburg:  "We 
should  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before 
us,  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion 
to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  de- 
votion ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not 
have  died  in  vain." 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  a  purely  sentimental  considera- 
tion. But  so  may  love  for  country,  for  liberty,  for  wife  and 
children,  aye,  for  Christ  Himself,  be  called  a  sentiment.  God 
forbid  that  the  time  should  ever  come  when  men  will  not  be 
influenced  by  sentiment.  The  intuitions  of  the  heart  are  as 
apt  to  be  correct  as  the  dictates  of  the  head.  I  candidly  ad- 
mit, that  as  I  stood  amid  the  ruins  of  our  mission  buildings 
in  Peking,  as  I  faced  the  surviving  Christians  in  that  city  and 
in  Paotingfu,  and  remembered  what  they  had  suffered  for 
Christ,  the  property  they  had  lost,  the  husbands  and  wives, 
fathers  and  mothers,  brothers,  sisters  and  children  they 
had  seen  murdered,  the  wounds  and  privations  they  had  re- 
ceived— as  I  saw  the  tears  in  their  eyes  while  I  spoke  to  them 
of  the  sympathy  of  God's  people  at  home,  and  the  light  that 
came  into  their  faces  when  I  assured  them  of  our  fellowship 
with  them  in  love  and  service,  as  I  stood  with  uncovered  head 
on  the  spot  where  the  sainted  Taylor  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sim- 
cox  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hodge  had  perished — I  confess,  I  say, 
to  the  rising  of  a  deeper  consecration  in  my  heart  to  the  work 
of  evangelizing  not  only  China,  but  this  particular  part  of  it — 
a  holier  resolve  to  give  myself  anew  to  the  Christ  whom  they 
served.  And  I  am  not  willing  to  admit  that  the  spiritual  ex- 
perience which  has  come  to  me  as  a  result  of  my  visitation 
of  these  places  is  a  mere  matter  of  sentiment.  It  means 
something  very  vital  to  me,  and  I  believe  it  does  to  the  whole 
Church. 

Therefore,  unless  the  American  Board  is  prepared  to  over- 
rule the  adverse  judgment  of  its  North  China  Mission,  give 
us  its  P'ang  Chuang  and  Lin  Ch'ing  Stations  in  Shantung, 
and  assume  such  responsibility  for  our  Chihli  Christians  and 
fields  as  will  enable  us  to  feel  that  they  will  be  adequately 
cared  for,  and  will  acquit  us  before  our  own  consciences  and 
before  the  Chinese  churches  and  the  Christian  world  of  the 
charge  of  desertion  in  a  time  of  supreme  need,  I  recommend 
that  we  retain  our  Peking  Mission. 

The  next  question  to  be  considered  is  the 

READJUSTMENT  OF  STATIONS. 

1.  Shuntefu. — When  the  Boxer  outbreak  occurred,  the 
Board,  in  compliance  with  the  urgent  request  of  the  mission, 


9° 

had  authorized  the  opening  of  a  station  at  this  point.  It  is 
an  important  prefectural  city  about  half  way  between  Pao- 
tingfu  and  Chinanfu  and  on  the  Hne  of  the  Peking  and  Han- 
kow Railway,  which  already  runs  some  distance  beyond  Pao- 
tingfu,  and  is  being  rapidly  pushed  southward.  The  city 
will,  therefore,  form  a  connecting  link  between  our  Peking 
and  Shantung  missions.  The  population  of  the  adjacent  re- 
gion is  estimated  at  6,000,000,  and  includes  many  walled 
cities  in  which  no  regular  work  is  being  done  by  any  Pro- 
testant body,  except  the  China  Inland  Mission.  Several 
members  of  that  Mission  have  told  me  that  their  mission 
has  never  had  more  than  two  men  in  Shuntefu;  that,  so 
far  as  they  know,  there  is  no  expectation  of  increasing 
the  number ;  that  they  have  no  medical  or  educational 
work  there,  and  that  the  special  reason  of  their  being  there 
at  all  is  that  the  place  is,  like  Paotingfu,  a  forwarding  point 
for  their  extensive  work  in  Shan-si.  The  soil  is  fertile,  the 
people  relatively  prosperous  and  the  location  comparatively 
healthful.  Mr.  Lowrie,  who  personally  explored  the  district 
in  1898,  informs  me  that  he  regards  it  as  an  exceptionally 
inviting  field,  and  this  is  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the  mis- 
sion. Before,  however,  the  plans  for  the  opening  of  the 
station  could  be  carried  into  effect,  the  outbreak  occurred,  so 
that  we  have  not  actually  begun  our  work  there.  The  mis- 
sion is  very  desirous  that  the  station  should  be  opened  as 
soon  as  practicable,  and  I  share  their  desire.  I  feel,  never- 
theless, that  the  proper  equipment  of  our  existing  stations, 
not  only  at  Peking  and  Paotingfu,  but  in  the  West  Shantung 
Mission,  should  come  first.  But  as  soon  as  these  stations 
can  be  brought  up  to  their  normal  strength,  I  think  Shuntefu 
should  be  opened.  To  that  end  we  should  keep  the  station 
in  mind,  and  the  Paotingfu  missionaries  should  make  such 
occasional  tours  to  that  district  as  they  may  find  practicable. 
2.  Paotingfu. — I  have  already  referred  to  the  new  com- 
pound which  has  been  obtained  free  of  cost.  The  old  com- 
pound lies  about  a  mile  north  of  the  North  Gate  of  the  city. 
While  adequate  for  the  work  in  operation  at  the  time  of  the 
outbreak,  it  was  not  large  enough  for  any  extension.  More- 
over, it  was  fully  two  miles  from  the  dispensary,  street 
chapel  and  day  school  in  the  city — a  fatiguing  daily  journey, 
especially  for  ladies,  in  a  place  of  rough  roads  and  rougher 
crowds.  The  new  compound  is  not  only  in  itself  more 
beautiful  and  healthful,  but  it  is  within  five  minutes'  walk  of 
the  West  Gate,  and  within  an  equally  short  distance  of  the 
railway  station.  It  will  be  far  more  convenient  to  the  city 
work,  and  yet  it  is  outside  the  wall  in  the  open  country,  with 
natural  drainage,  shade  trees,  grape  arbors  and  several  wells, 
while  it  is  ample  in  size  for  any  plant  we  may  ever  desire  to 


91 

put  upon  it.  The  Board  should  therefore  approve  the  Mis- 
sion's unainmous  desire  that  the  station  be  rebuilt  on  the 
new  compound. 

A  Chinese  firm  in  Paotingfu  has  leased  the  old  compound 
for  ten  years  for  nursery  purposes,  agreeing  at  the  expiration 
of  that  time  to  return  it  to  us  with  all  the  trees  and  shrubbery 
that  may  then  be  upon  it.  This  will  enable  us  to  keep  and 
beautify,  without  expense,  a  place  which  has  been  made 
sacred  to  us  by  the  blood  of  martyrs.  If  we  wish  to  sell,  we 
can  probably  do  so  at  the  expiration  of  the  lease  to  far  better 
advantage  than  now,  in  view  of  the  improvements  which  are 
promised  and  which  will  then  be  ours.  That  portion  of  the 
tract  upon  which  the  martyrdoms  occurred  should  be  set  aside 
as  a  cemetery.  This  would  include  the  site  of  the  houses 
occupied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Simcox  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lowrie, 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hodge  having  been  in  the  former  house  and 
Dr.  Taylor  in  the  latter  when  the  attack  was  made.  A  neat 
wall  should  be  placed  about  this  enclosure  and  a  suitable 
monument  erected.  It  is  true  that  the  new  station  will  be 
the  real  memorial  of  the  martyrs,  and  there  should  be  some 
tablet  to  that  effect,  either  at  the  entrance  or  in  the  chapel. 
But  surely  we  ought  also  to  have  something  on  the  very 
spot  where  the  massacre  occurred.  Our  Duck  Lane  property 
in  Peking  was  orginially  a  Buddhist  temple,  and  when  we 
bought  it  we  came  into  possession  not  only  of  the  temple 
and  a  miscellaneous  assortment  of  gods,  but  of  three  beauti- 
ful and  massive  monumental  tablets  erected  about  three 
hundred  years  ago.  In  size  and  shape  and  quality  of  stone 
they  are  as  fine  as  anything  we  could  secure,  and  as  they  be- 
long to  us  there  would  be  no  expense  involved  except  rail- 
way freight  to  Paotingfu,  the  erasure  of  the  present  inscrip- 
tions and  the  necessary  reinscribing.  It  would  cost  $1000  or 
more  to  get  any  monument  from  America  or  Scotland  which 
would  be  as  good  as  one  of  these.  I,  therefore,  recommend 
that  the  Peking  Mission  be  authorized  to  have  one  of  these 
monuments  erected  on  the  spot  where  our  friends  died,  and 
to  have  a  suitable  stone  or  brick  enclosing  wall  put  around 
such  an  adjacent  portion  of  the  compound  as  they  may  deem 
expedient  for  the  needs  of  a  small  foreign  cemetery. 

Hitherto  Peking  has  been  our  larger  station,  but  now  there 
are  some  weighty  reasons  for  transferring  the  balance  to 
Paotingfu: 

1.  It  is  nearer  the  geographical  center  of  our  Peking  Mis- 
sion field,  especially  in  view  of  our  prospective  development 
toward  the  South  rather  than  toward  the  North. 

2.  It  would  be  a  better  location  for  our  boarding-schools 
than  a  great  city  like  Peking.  The  boys  and  girls  would  be 
less  likely  to  be  educated  out  of  sympathy  with  the  village 


92 

life  from  which  they  come.  Buildings  are  less  expensive  in 
Paotingfu  than  in  the  capital,  living  is  cheaper  and  the  whole 
scale  of  life  more  modest.  It  is  quite  generally  agreed  in 
America  that  a  country  town  is  a  better  place  for  an  educa- 
tional institution  than  a  great  metropolis,  and  the  same  con- 
siderations apply  in  China. 

3.  There  is  a  larger  constituency  in  the  Paotingfu  field,  our 
district  there  including  eleven  and  a  half  counties,  against 
three  in  the  Peking  field,  to  say  nothing  of  the  large  work 
which  we  hope  to  develop  later  at  Shun  te  fu. 

4.,Xhere  are  no  competing  plants,  such  as  the  Congrega- 
tionalists~aiTa""TVIethodists  have  in  and  near  Peking.  The 
North  China  College  of  the  American  Board  at  Tung  Chou 
and  the  Peking  University  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Peking, 
together  with  the  Congregational  Bridgman  School  for  Girls, 
as  well  as  the  various  institutions  maintained  by  other  Boards, 
more  nearly  cover  the  Peking  field  educationally.  We  can- 
not now  compete  with  the  institutions  they  have  developed, 
nor  is  it  expedient  that  we  should  do  so,  even  if  we  could. 
But  in  Paotingfu  we  have  a  comparatively  clear  field,  and  if 
the  arrangement  with  the  Congregationalists,  to  which  I 
shall  refer  later,  can  be  made,  we  shall  have  a  territory  exclu- 
sively our  own. 

I  therefore  recommend  that  we  transfer  the  emphasis  of 
our  educational  work  in  this  mission  to  Paotingfu  and  develop 
there  our  leading  boarding  schools  for  both  boys  and  girls, 
and  also  that  the  station  be  so  reinforced,  by  transfers  as 
far  as  practicable,  that  it  will  have  a  force  adequate  to  the 
care  of  these  institutions  and  to  a  larger  evangelistic  work. 
This  readjustment  will  place  us  to  far  better  advantage  for 
the  effective  working  of  our  field  while  at  the  same  time 
leaving  us  proper  representation  at  Peking. 

Injnedical  work  the  American  Board  has  a  women's  hospi- 
tal aboiirtwoirTTd-a--half  mites  from  An  Ting,  treating  4,000  pa- 
tients annually  and  a  large  general  hospital  at  Tung  Chou, 
twelve  miles  distant,  with  about  15,000  patients.  The  Metho- 
dists are  building  a  large  general  hospital  three  and  a  half  miles 
fromt  he  An  Ting, where  they  have  one  physician, and  they  have 
long  had  an  extensive  and  well-equipped  women's  hospital  on 
the  same  compound,  employing  one  physician  and  controlled 
by  the  Women's  Board.  The  London  Missionary  Society 
has  a  general  hospital  three  miles  from  ours,  a  women's  hos- 
pital and  the  West  City  Women's  Hospital,  the  staff  for  all 
consisting  of  three  physicians.  The  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel  has  no  regular  hospital  but  it  has  a  women's 
medical  work  under  the  care  of  a  lady  physician,  assisted  by 
the  physician  of  the  British  Legation,  while  a  German  dis- 
pensary is  conducted  by  an  attache  of  the  German  Legation. 


93 

For  so  great  a  city,  this  is  not  a  large  number  of  hospitals. 
Indeed  it  is  very  small  if  we  remember  that  these  institutions 
represent  almost  the  entire  surgical  profession  of  the  city; 
that  the  equipments  of  all  combined  would  not  equal  that  of  a 
single  hospital  in  Chicago,  and  that  each  hospital  represents 
a  large  county  work — drawing  its  patients  from  and  sending 
its  influence  to  thousands  of  outlying  villages. 

Of  course,  the  An  Ting  Hospital  must  be  immediately  re- 
built. For  a  time,  the  opinion  prevailed  that  it  would  be 
wise  to  remove  our  Women's  Hospital  to  Paotingfu,  for 
while  there  are  already  two  general  hospitals  there,  our  own 
on  a  scale  of  13,000  patients  a  year  and  the  American  Boards' 
on  a  scale  of  18,000,  there  is  no  Women's  Hospital  in  all 
that  region  and  as  urgent  a  need  as  anywhere  in  China. 
Moreover  we  have  ample  room  for  a  women's  hospital  on 
the  new  compound  and  a  well  qualified  lady  physician  to 
superintend  it.  Medical  missionaries  whom  I  met  told  me 
that,  as  a  rule,  Chinese  women  who  will  go  to  a  hospital  at 
all  do  not  object  to  being  treated  by  a  man  except  for  dis- 
eases and  injuries  peculiar  to  women.  But  that  exception 
gives  a  field  for  the  woman  medical  missionary  of  vast  and 
painful  extent.  There  are  no  sorer  agonies  than  those  which 
are  endured  by  the  women  of  heathen  lands.  I  therefore 
favor  the  Mission's  earnestly  expressed  desire  for  a  Women's 
Hospital  at  Paotingfu.  This,  however,  need  not  prevent 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Women's  Hospital  in  Peking,  if  the 
funds  can  be  secured  either  from  the  indemnity  or  from 
the  special  memorial  fund  being  raised  in  the  United  States, 
so  that  the  resources  available  for  other  work  will  not  be 
diminished. 

In  Peking  we  have  hitherto  occupied  two  compounds 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  apart.  This  arrangement  has  prov- 
ed unsatisfactory  and  inconvenient,  and  the  Mission  wisely 
feels  that  in  the  future  the  station  should  be  concentrated  on 
one  compound.  Neither  of  the  present  compounds  is  ideal- 
ly located,  nor  is  either  large  enough  for  the  work  formerly 
carried  on  at  both  compounds.  I  looked  at  several  proposed 
new  sites,  but  the  only  desirable  one  would  be  quite  expen- 
sive. It  is  so  doubtful  whether  the  old  ones  could  be  sold 
that  we  shall  probaby  have  to  keep  them  for  some  years  any- 
way. Of  the  two,  the  Second  street  compound  is,  all  things 
considered,  better  adapted  to  our  purpose  than  the  one  in 
Duck  Lane.  It  is  larger,  pleasanter  for  residence,  in  a  health- 
ier locality,  is  two  and  a  half  miles  from  the  nearest  com- 
pound of  any  other  Board,  has  more  of  our  native  Christian 
families  near  it,  and  as  the  former  site  of  the  An  Ting  Hos- 
pital it  is  the  section  of  the  city  where  our  work  has  made 
the  stronger  local  impression.     The  advantage  of  a  new  lo- 


94 

cation  does  not  appear  to  be  imperative  enough  to  justify  us 
in  sacrificing  such  a  place  and  incurring  the  heavy  expense 
of  a  new  tract. 

I,  therefore,  recommend  that  the  Mission  be  authorized 
to  sell  the  Duck  Lane  compound  if  a  good  opportunity 
offers,  and  that  the  station  buildings  be  erected  on  the  Sec- 
ond street  compound.  A  lot  across  the  street  already  own- 
ed by  the  Board  can  be  utilized  for  helpers  or  a  day  school, 
but  additional  land  will  be  required  and  should  be  obtained 
as  soon  as  practicable.  Our  work  will  be  too  cramped  un- 
less the  present  compound  is  enlarged  by  the  purchase  of 
adjacent  lots. 

CO-OPERATION. 

At  the  conference  of  representatives  of  foreign  mission 
boards  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  having  work  in 
China,  September  21,  1900,  the  following  resolution  was 
unanimously  adopted,  and  was  afterward  cordially  approved  by 
our  Board:  "It  is  the  judgment  of  this  Conference  that  the 
resumption  of  mission  work  in  those  parts  of  China  where  it 
has  been  interrupted  would  afford  a  favorable  opportunity 
for  putting  into  practice  some  of  the  principles  of  mission 
comity  which  have  been  approved  by  a  general  concensus  of 
opinion  among  missionaries  and  boards,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  overlapping  of  fields  and  such  work  as  printing  and 
publishing,  higher  education  and  hospital  work,  and  the  con- 
ference would  commend  the  subject  to  the  favorable  consid- 
eration and  action  of  the  various  boards  and  their  mission- 
aries." 

Christian  America,  which  ought  to  set  the  example  of 
comity,  is  distractingly  divided.  But  can  we  not  learn  some- 
thing from  our  experience  at  home,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
organize  our  work  abroad  in  such  a  way  as  not  to  perpetuate 
unnecessary  divisions?  With  institutions  in  existence  it 
would  be  dii^cult  to  bring  about  changes;  but  now  that,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  everything  in  these  two  stations  has 
been  blotted  out,  shall  we  not,  before  rebuilding,  at  least 
carefully  consider  whether  a  limited  force  cannot  be  used  to 
better  advantage  for  China  and  for  Christ?  Accordingly, 
December  3d,  1900,  I  corresponded  with  the  American 
Board  and  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
regarding  possible  joint  action  in  rebuilding  the  hospitals 
and  boarding-schools  which  have  been  destroyed  in  Peking 
and  Paotingfu.  I  made  it  plain  that  we  were  not  commit- 
ting ourselves  to  any  definite  plans,  but  simply  to  a  willing- 
ness to  confer  as  to  whether  it  would  be  better  to  have  a  few 
adequately  equipped  institutions  under  joint  control,  than  to 
have  a  larger  number  of  smaller  ones  under  separate  man- 


95 

agement,  and  whether  one  large  hospital  would  develop  all 
the  evangelistic  opportunities  that  the  missionaries  of  the 
combined  Boards  could  well  utilize. 

Pursuant  to  my  invitation,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Judson  Smith, 
secretary  of  the  American  Board,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  A.  B. 
Leonard,  secretary  of  the  Methodist  Society,  met  in  my  office, 
December  27th,  and,  after  prayer  for  divine  guidance,  we 
spent  several  hours  in  delightful  and  profitable  conference. 
Dr.  Leonard,  while  expressing  a  cordial  willingness  to  bring 
the  matter  before  the  Methodist  Board  and  missionaries, 
if  desired,  nevertheless  expressed  the  opinion  that  consol- 
idation would  not  be  practicable  so  far  as  the  Methodists 
were  concerned,  on  account  of  the  interdependence  of 
their  various  institutions  which  are  concentrated  upon  a 
large  compound  of  seven  acres.  As  the  Methodists  have 
no  work  in  Paotingfu,  our  range  of  inquiry  was  there- 
fore narrowed  to  the  question  as  to  whether  there  should  be 
any  joint  action  between  Congregationalists  and  Presby- 
terians. 

Accordingly,  Dr.  Smith  and  I  agreed  to  recommend  to 
our  respective  Boards  that  the  judgment  of  the  Congrega- 
tional North  China  Mission  and  of  the  Presbyterian  Peking 
Mission  should  be  sought  on  certain  specific  questions  relat- 
ing to  co-operation  in  medical  and  educational  work.  These 
questions  were  approved  by  our  Board  January  7th,  1901, 
and  later  by  the  American  Board. 

In  Paotingfu,  as  in  Peking,  the  large  and  totally  distinct 
fields  of  the  two  Boards,  the  distance  between  the  compounds, 
and  especially  the  vital  relation  of  the  medical  work  of  each 
Board  to  its  country  evangelistic  work,  led  the  missionaries 
to  feel  that  each  Board  may  wisely  conduct  its  own  hospital, 
•and  that  consolidation  is  not  demanded  by  the  interests  of 
the  cause,  no  competition  being  involved. 

In  educational  work,  more  appears  to  be  practicable.  In 
Peking,  besides  our  boys'  boarding  school  and  girls'  board- 
ing school,  the  American  Board  had,  in  the  Bridgeman 
School  for  Girls,  the  leading  Congregational  girls'  school  in 
North  China,  with  three  missionaries,  eighty  pupils  and  a 
good  equipment,  and  a  recently  opened  boys'  boarding  school, 
with  one  missionary.  At  Tungchow,  it  had  a  theological 
seminary  and  a  preparatory  school,  and,  in  particular,  the 
North  China  College.  The  Methodists  had  the  Peking  Uni- 
versity, a  boys'  boarding  school  on  the  same  compound,  with 
one  missionary,  and  a  girls'  boarding  school,  also  on  the 
same  compound,  but,  like  the  hospital,  under  the  control  of 
the  Women's  Boards. 

In  Paotingfu,  the  American  Board  had  a  girls'  boarding 
.school,  with  one  missionary,  the  school  being  conducted  as 


96 

an  auxiliary  to  the  Bridgeman  School  in  Peking,  and  the 
Presbyterians  a  very  small  school,  opened  in  December,  1899. 

It  was  at  first  suggested  that  it  would  not  be  expedient 
to  press  the  question  of  consolidation  in  educational  work,  as 
the  chief  object  of  such  work  is  to  train  up  a  native  ministry, 
and  each  mission  can  best  educate  its  own  helpers.  It  is  true 
that  the  plan  of  joint  control  of  the  Meiji  Gakuin  in  Tokio, 
Japan,  by  the  American  and  Reformed  Boards,  works  satis- 
factorily, but  in  Japan  but  one  native  church  is  involved,  so 
that  the  cases  are  not  parallel.  Moreover,  in  a  large  school 
there  would  not  be  as  good  an  opportunity  for  that  close  per- 
sonal contact  between  missionary  and  pupil  which  would  be 
desirable. 

These  difficulties,  however,  are  believed  by  many  of  the 
missionaries  to  be  more  theoretical  than  practical,  or,  at  any 
rate,  not  sufficiently  formidable  to  prevent  some  more  effective 
co-operation  than  we  now  have.  No  plan  will  be  free  from 
all  objections,  so  that  we  should  not  abandon  a  good  effort 
because  they  are  found  to  confront  us,  but  rather  consider 
whether  they  are  not  materially  less  than  the  grave  defects 
inherent  in  the  present  systems. 

In  the  higher  education  of  young  men,  we  have  no  insti- 
tution competing  with  the  North  China  College,  and  we  do 
not  intend  to  develop  one  in  the  Chihli  Province.  The  Con- 
gregational and  Methodist  institutions  represent  both  types 
of  Christian  colleges,  the  North  China  College  having  for  its 
primary  object  the  training  of  helpers  and  ministers,  while 
the  "certificate  of  incorporation"  of  the  Peking  University 
declares  its  "object  shall  be  to  aid  the  youth  of  the  Chinese 
Empire  and  of  other  countries  in  obtaining  a  literary,  scien- 
tific or  professional  education,"  and  the  eleventh  annual  re- 
port adds,  "to  qualify  young  men  for  responsible  positions 
in  Church  and  State,  in  commerical  life  or  any  honorable 
vocation  in  the  new  China." 

This  distinction  should  not  be  pressed  too  literally.  The 
North  China  College  .does  not  confine  its  course  to  students 
for  the  ministry,  and  the  Peking  University  educates  the  men 
for  Methodist  churches.  Nevertheless,  broadly  speaking, 
the  former  is  a  training  college  for  Christian  workers,  and 
the  latter  a  general  college  more  nearly  on  our  home  models. 
Neither  wishes  to  be  considered  denominational.  The  Pe- 
king University,  indeed,  is  not  under  the  immediate  control 
of  the  missionary  society,  but  has  a  separate  board  of  trus- 
tees, all  of  whom,  however,  are  Methodists,  while  the  uni- 
versity receives  annual  grants  of  money  from  the  missionary 
society.  But  the  local  board  of  managers  is  composed  of 
men  of  various  evangelical  churches.  Both  President  Shef- 
field   and    President   Lowry   cordially   urged  upon    me    the 


97 

plan  of  having  us  join  them  in  the  support,  control  and  facul- 
ty of  their  respective  institutions. 

Since,  however,  we  have  no  college  of  our  own  in  that 
field,  such  identification  with  either  institution  would  compel 
us  to  increase  our  missionary  force  by  the  appointment  of 
one  or  more  professors,  and  to  increase  our  expenditure  by 
our  share  of  the  expenses.  Our  work  in  the  Chihli  Province 
is  not  large  enough  yet  to  warrant  us  in  making  such  ex- 
penditures for  college  work,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  us  to  ac- 
cept an  equal  share  of  financial  responsibility,  nor  fair  to  the 
others  to  accept  less,  unless  we  were  content  to  have  no  voice 
in  control,  an  alternative  which,  however  unobjectionable  as 
long  as  the  present  men  are  living,  might  involve  us  in 
future  embarassments.  Besides,  we  must  remember  that, 
while  we  have  no  college  of  our  own  in  Chilhi,  we  have  one 
in  Shantung,  and  that  it  has  been  our  desire  to  make  it  our 
institution  of  higher  training  for  all  three  of  our  North 
China  Missions.  Before  this  College  can  be  removed  from 
Tengchow  to  Wei  Hsien,  the  railroad  will  be  running  into 
that  city.  I  am  told  that  within  two  years  this  east  and  west 
line  will  form  a  junction  at  Chinanfu  with  the  north  and 
south  Tientsin  and  Chinkiang  line,  while  the  Peking  &  Han- 
kow Railroad,  which  is  already  beyond  Paotingfu,  is  being 
so  rapidly  pushed  southward  that  it  is  expected  to  reach  the 
Yellow  River  in  about  the  same  period.  By  the  time  we  get 
our  College  fairly  established  at  Wei  Hsien,  therefore,  there 
is  likely  to  be  all-rail  connection  with  it  from  both  the  sta- 
tions of  our  Peking  Mission,  and  one  could  travel  from  Pao- 
tingfu to  Wei  Hsien  in  as  short  a  time  as  from  Ichowfu  to 
Wei  Hsien — five  days.  The  greater  expensiveness  of  such 
travel  as  well  as  the  difference  in  dialect,  will  always  be  a 
dii^culty  which  will  be  insuperable  to  many  students  unless 
their  traveling  expenses  are  paid.  But  the  fact  remains  that 
we  have  never  been  able  to  properly  support  our  own  Col- 
lege. It  has  had  to  stagger  along  in  a  way  which  has  been  a 
shame  to  us.  We  are  now  trying  to  secure  an  endowment 
for  it,  but  thus  far  without  success.  It  is  plain  that  all  the 
money  and  teaching  force  which  we  have  any  reasonable 
hope  of  obtaining  will  be  required  for  the  equipment  of  our 
Shantung  College,  and  that  it  would  be  quite  out  of  the  ques- 
tion for  us  to  undertake,  in  addition  to  its  support,  a  pro- 
portionate share  of  the  support  of  another  college  in  Peking. 

It,  therefore,  appears  wiser  to  me  for  us  to  leave  the 
Chihli  Province  college  field  to  the  Congregationalists  and 
Methodists,  and  to  concentrate  our  college  efforts  on  our  own 
institution  in  Shantung.  Our  Peking  missionaries  can  con- 
tinue, as  heretofore,  to  work  in  fullest  harmony  with  the 
North  China  College  and  the  Peking  University,  being  free 


to  send  students  to  both  institutions  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances in  particular  cases.  There  will  always  be  many 
young  men  who  must  be  educated  near  their  homes.  But  I 
believe  that  our  College  at  Wei  Hsien  should  be  recognized 
as  our  higher  intitution  for  North  China. 

As  for  a  Theological  Seminary,  we  must  in  time  have 
something  of  the  kind,  if  we  are  to  have  an  adequate  supply 
of  ministers  for  our  churches.  Of  course,  our  great  Shan- 
tung field  cannot  send  all  its  theological  students  to  Peking, 
nor  if  it  could  would  it  be  desirable  to  train  our  village  pas- 
tors amid  the  comparative  splendors  of  the  capital.  As  other 
denominations  already  have  larger  interests  in  collegiate 
grades,  I  sympathize  with  the  pending  proposal  that  we 
might  accept  the  theological  work  in  a  co-operative  scheme 
for  higher  education. 

As  for  the  boarding  schools,  I  have  already  expressed  the 
judgment  that  it  would  be  unwise  for  us  to  rebuild  in  Peking 
on  a  scale  which  would  be  necessary  to  enable  us  to  hold 
our  own  in  competition  with  the  large  plants  of  other  Boards, 
while  our  central  station  at  Paotingfu  has  practically  nothing. 
I  fully  agree  with  the  Congregational  Committee  that  "it 
certainly  seems  unnecessary  that  our  two  missions  should 
maintain  distinct  high  schools  looking  toward  a  college  grade 
side  by  side,  when  the  whole  number  of  pupils  in  both  could 
be  instructed  more  economically  and  perhaps  more  efficient- 
ly in  one  institution." 

The  Congregational  Committee  suggests  one  way  by 
which  the  desired  end  could  be  attained — namely,  union 
schools,  supported  jointly  by  the  two  Boards.  Is  there  not, 
however,  another  way?  Can  we  not  give  the  control  of 
the  boarding-school  field  in  Peking  to  the  American  Board, 
and  can  they  not  give  it  to  us  in  Paotingfu?  This  would  cer- 
tainly be  fair,  as  it  would  leave  to  each  Board  the  station  at 
which  it  wishes  to  develop  its  largest  interests  and  local  in- 
fluence. It  would  secure  the  ends  of  comity,  economy  and 
efficiency  by  avoiding  competition,  reducing  the  number  of 
boarding-schools  from  four  to  two  and  giving  to  each  school 
a  united  local  support,  while  it  would  prevent  the  embarrass- 
ments which  are  almost  inseparable  from  joint  control. 
Where  the  teachers  are  members  of  and  responsible  to  two 
different  missions  and  Boards,  with  possibly  differing  ideas 
and  policies  as  to  aim,  self-support,  scale  of  expenditure,  etc., 
the  best  interests  of  the  institution  are  not  so  apt  to  be  sub- 
served, even  if  complications  do  not  arise.  I  am  convinced 
that  it  would  be  wiser,  wherever  practicable,  as  it  appears  to 
be  in  Chihli,  to  give  each  Board  complete  control  of  a  school. 
Comity  should  be  practical  if  it  is  to  accomplish  anything. 
It  is  not  necessary  that  two  families  live  in  the  same  house 


99 

to  show  that  they  love  one  another.  I  believe  that  this  plan  will 
be  in  accord  with  comity,  and  result  in  increased  efficiency 
and  economy,  while  at  the  same  time  being  entirely  feasible, 
and  avoiding  dangers  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  not 
far  in  the  back-ground  of  union  institutions. 

I  therefore  recommend  a  proposal  to  the  American  Board 
that  we  co-operate  in  boys'  and  girls'  boarding-schools  in  the 
Chihli  Province  by  having  one  school  for  each  sex  in  Peking 
under  Congregational  control  and  one  for  each  sex  in  Paoting- 
fu  under  Presbyterian  control;  that  the  American  Board  be 
informed  that  we  do  not  contemplate  schools  of  college  grade 
in  Chihli,  either  for  boys  or  girls,  but  only  institutions  of 
high-school  grade,  and  that,  if  the  American  Board  wishes  to 
develop  its  Bridgeman  School  for  Girls  into  a  women's  col- 
lege, we  shall  be  glad  to  advise  any  of  our  Paotingfu  gradu- 
ates who  may  desire  a  further  course  to  attend  the  American 
Board  college  in  Peking. 

UNION  OF  CHURCHES. 

The  intimation  that  there  might  be  "no  inherent  difficulty 
in  uniting  the  membership  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  Chihli  in  one  common  body"  is  an  excellent 
one.  A  similar  question  is  being  informally  and  individually 
discussed  by  our  missionaries  and  those  of  the  English  Bap- 
tist Mission  in  Shantung.  The  fellowship  between  the  two 
bodies  there,  as  between  Presbyterians  andCongregationalists 
in  Chihli,  is  ideally  delightful.  I  am  in  strong  sympathy 
with  the  view  of  our  Board's  Committee  on  Policy  and  Meth- 
ods that  "the  object  of  the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  is 
not  to  perpetuate  on  the  mission  field  the  denominational 
distinctions  of  Christendom,  but  to  build  up  on  Scrip- 
tural lines  and  according  to  Scriptural  principles  and 
methods  the  Kingdom  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  (Re- 
port March  6,  1899),  and  with  the  Board's  action  of  May 
15,  1900,  which  was  specifically  approved  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  that  year,  that  "we  encourage  as  far  as  practicable 
the  formation  of  union  churches  in  which  the  results  of  the 
mission  work  of  all  allied  evangelical  churches  should  be 
gathered,  ai.d  that  they  (the  missions)  observe  everywhere 
the  most  generous  principles  of  missionary  qomity."  I  have, 
therefore,  no  question  as  to  the  desirabilty  of  forming  union 
churches  on  the  mission  field,  nor  any  unwillingness  to  vote 
for  any  reasonable  concession  which  may  be  necessary  to  se- 
cure it. 

The  local  difficulties  do  not  appear  to  be  serious.  Indeed, 
an  English  Baptist  missionary  frankly  stated,  in  an  open  con- 
ference of  missionaries  of  various  Boards,  that  his  mission, 
with  the  full  knowledge  of  the  home  Society,  took  the  posi- 


tion  that  the  Chinese  Christians  are  not  yet  fit  for  Congrega- 
tional government,  being,  as  a  rule,  comparatively  ignorant 
farmers  just  out  of  heathenism;  that  it  had  been  found  neces- 
sary to  select  the  best  men  in  a  local  church  and  give  them 
powers  which,  for  all  practical  purposes,  constitute  them  a 
session,  and  that  the  native  church  as  a  whole  was  being 
more  and  more  directed  by  a  body  consisting  of  representa- 
tives from  such  sessions.  An  American  Board  missionary 
told  me  about  the  same  thing  regarding  their  work.  We 
should  not  infer  too  much  from  such  admissions.  Both  Bap- 
tists and  Congregationalists  are  loyally  attached  to  their  in- 
dependent policy  as  we  are  to  our  representative  one.  Both 
referred,  of  course,  to  the  temporary  adaptations  necessary 
in  the  present  stage  of  mission  work.  Indeed,  our  own 
Board's  Committee  on  Policy  and  Methods  reported  (March 
6,  1899)  that  "it  is  inexpedient  to  give  formal  organization 
to  churches  and  Presbyteries  after  American  models  unless 
there  is  manifest  need  therefor,  and  such  forms  are  shown  to 
be  best  adapted  to  the  people  and  circumstances."  "In  gen- 
eral," the  Committee  continues,  "the  ends  of  the  work  will 
best  be  attained  by  simple  and  flexible  organizations  adapted 
to  the  characteristic  and  real  needs  of  the  people  and  de- 
signed to  develop  and  utilize  spiritual  power  rather  than 
merely  or  primarily  to  secure  proper  ecclesiastical  procedure." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  neither  the  representative  nor  the  in- 
dependent forms  of  church  government  are  yet  in  unmodified 
operation  on  any  mission  fields,  except  perhaps  Japan,  for 
the  simple  and  sufficient  reason  that  the  typical  foreign  mis- 
sionary has  thus  far  necessarily  exercised  the  functions  of  a 
superintendent  or  bishop  of  the  native  churches.  Undoubt- 
edly, however,  the  native  churches  are  being  educated  to  ex- 
pect self-government  as  soon  as  they  are  competent  to  exer- 
cise it,  though  there  are  wise  men  who  question  whether  the 
Japanese  Christians  are  not  getting  it  too  soon  for  their 
own  good. 

As  for  doctrine,  the  denominations  in  question  are  so  near- 
ly alike  already  that  no  diificulty  is  to  be  anticipated  there, 
except,  possibly,  on  the  subject  of  baptism.  But  the  English 
Baptists  believe  and  practice  "open  communion,"  and  their 
missionaries  in  China  freely  and  lovingly  unite  with  ours  at 
the  Lord's  table.  All  that  would  be  necessary  in  a  union 
church,  therefore,  would  be  to  explicitly  recognize  the  liber- 
ty of  the  individual  pastor  and  believer  to  adopt  either  mode 
of  baptism  he  preferred.  Doubtless  isolated  cases  of  em- 
barassment  might  occur  as  to  mode  or  the  baptism  of  infants. 
But  they  would  be  insignificant  in  comparism  with  the  em- 
barassments  inherent  in  the  present  sectarian  divisions  and 
disputes.     Denominational  uniformity  is  bought  at  bitter  cost 


when  it  separates  the  people  of  God  into  rival  camps.  Unity 
in  essentials  and  liberty  in  non-essentials  are  far  better  than 
a  slavery  to  non-essentials  which  destroys  that  oneness  of  be- 
lievers for  which  our  Lord  prayed.  No  Presbyterian  can  con- 
sistently object  to  such  liberty,  for  the  very  essence  of  our 
position  on  baptism  is  that  the  form  and  the  quantity  of  wa- 
ter are  relatively  unimportant,  the  vital  thing  being  the  in- 
ward washing  of  which  the  application  of  water  is  but  an  ex- 
ternal symbol.  Our  historial  contention  is  for  freedom  as 
against  the  bondage  of  method.  It  is  well  known  that  many 
Presbyterian  pastors  in  America  immerse  in  individual  cases 
where  strong  conscientious  scruples  are  involved.  Why 
should  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Shantung,  who  has  unques- 
tionable right  to  sprinkle  adults  and  infants,  and  who  need 
not  immerse  unless  he  wishes  to — why  should  he,  I  say, 
deny  the  right  of  a  brother  minister  to  follow  the  Baptist  cus- 
toms if  they  are  more  in  accord  with  his  convictions?  So  I 
see  no  insuperable  difficulty  in  the  proposed  union  of  native 
churches  in  Chihli  and  Shantung. 

A  question  may  fairly  be  raised,  however,  as  to  the  re- 
lation Df  such  a  united  church  to  the  pending  movement  to 
unite  the  native  churches  of  all  the  Presbyterian  and  reform- 
ed Boards  at  work  in  China.  There  are  no  less  that  eight  of 
these  bodies — namely,  the  American  Reformed,  with  18  mis- 
sionaries; Canadian  Presbyterian,  with  22;  Church  of  Scot- 
land, 6;  English  Presbyterian,  77;  Irish  Presbyterian,  24; 
Southern  Presbyterian,  68;  United  Presbyterian  of  Scotland, 
37,  and  our  own  church,  with  222  missionaries,  a  total  of  8 
boards  and  474  missionaries.  These  boards  represent  about  a 
seventh  of  all  the  Protestant  missionaries  and  one-third  of 
all  the  native  Christians  in  China,  while  the  English  Bap- 
tists have  only  48  missionaries  and  the  American  Congrega- 
tionalists  111. 

Manifestly,  a  union  of  the  native  Christians  of  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Reformed  Boards  in  China  would  result  in  a 
magnificent  Church — a  Church  which  would  be  by  far  the 
most  powerful  and  influential  factor  in  the  spiritual  regener- 
ation of  China,  while  it  would  permit  such  economies  in  the 
use  of  men  and  money  that  a  given  force  and  expenditure 
would  be  vastly  more  effective  than  at  present.  Such  a 
union  is  in  successful  operation  in  Japan,  and  it  is  being 
formed  in  India.  Let  us  join  the  missionaries  who  have 
long  been  hoping  and  praying  and  working  for  it  in  China. 
A  Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance  has  already  been  constituted, 
and  held  a  conference  in  Shanghai,  October  2  to  4  of 
this  year.  I  profoundly  regret  that  my  imperative  engage- 
ments in  the  Philippine  Islands  did  not  permit  me  to  accept 
the  urgent  invitation  of  the  committee  to  be  present. 


)02 

Now,  would  a  local  union  with  the  American  Congrega- 
tionalists  in  Chihli,  and  the  English  Baptists  in  Shantung, 
cut  off  our  churches  in  those  provinces  from  the  larger  union 
of  the  great  Pan-Presbyterian  Church  which  is  slowly  form- 
ing throughout  the  empire?  If  it  would,  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  such  local  unions  in  the  north  would  not  be  expedient. 
The  question,  it  will  be  seen*  is  not  at  all  one  of  comity  and 
co-operation,  since  we  are  cordially  willing  to  unite  with  our 
brethren  of  other  denominations.  But  shall  we  unite  with 
the  larger  or  smaller  body — with  seven  other  other  boards, 
to  form  one  splendid  church,  or  with  two  other  boards  to 
form  two  separate  and  comparatively  small  churches,  one  in 
Chihli  and  the  other  in  Shantung? 

This  objection  might,  however,  be  obviated  by  broaden- 
ing the  scope  of  the  Pan-Presbyterian  movement  so  as  to  in- 
clude the  Congregationalists  and  English  Baptists,  if  they 
are  willing  to  come  into  it.  The  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan, 
which  is  composed  of  all  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
native  churches  there,  was  originally  intended  to  include  the 
churches  of  the  American  Boai"d,  and  many  missionaries 
lamented  to  me  when  I  was  in  Japan  that  opposition  from 
home  overruled  the  Congregational  missionaries  and  pastors 
who  desired  to  join  the  Church  of  Christ.  All  felt  that  a 
mistake  had  been  made,  but  that  it  is  now  too  late  to  correct 
it,  as  the  native  churches  have  since  then  drifted  apart. 

There  might  be  similar  difficulties  encountered  in  China. 
The  larger  the  number  of  denominations  involved  the  great- 
er the  probability  of  opposition  from  well-meaning  brethren 
of  "high  church  proclivities,"  who  conscientiously  feel  that 
the  historic  witness  of  their  particular  denomination  to  some 
specific  truth  would  be  impaired  by  a  union  with  other  de- 
nominations, and  that  the  advantages  of  union  would  not 
compensate  for  the  loss  in  such  impairment.  Moreover,  con- 
solidations of  churches  are  difficult  to  bring  about,  anyway, 
and  if  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance  in  China  attempts  too 
much  it  may  not  succeed  in  accomplishing  anything.  The 
home  boards  and  churches  must  also  be  reckoned  with.  A 
prominent  Methodist  told  me  recently  that  he  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  a  union  of  the  Methodist  bodies  in  Japan,  as  he 
feared  that  such  a  union  would  weaken  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility of  his  home  denomination  for  the  support  of  its  work. 
Better,  he  argued,  to  lay  the  whole  weight  of  a  smaller  for- 
eign work  on  the  home  Church  than  a  part  of  the  weight  of  a 
larger  work.  Are  we,  then,  to  force  our  Atnerican  sectarian- 
ism upon  the  rising  churches  of  Asia?  Must  the  unity  of  the 
foreign  Church  be  sacrificed  to  the  divisions  of  home  Church? 
I  fear  that  there  is  some  ground  for  anticipating  such  objec- 
tions from  home,  though  I  do  not  believe  they  would  emanate 


I03 

from  our  Church.  At  any  rate,  I  will  never  admit  that  such 
objections  are  valid.  If  they  are  found  to  exist,  we  should 
not  stop  seeking-  union  in  Asia,  but  we  should  begin  preaching 
juster  views  in  America. 

The  way  does  not  appear  to  be  clear  now  to  make  posi- 
tive recommendations  as  to  the  details  of  so  g;eneral  a  union. 
In  so  momentous  and  yet  so  delicate  a  matter  we  must  move 
prudently.  The  Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance  is  being  wisely 
guided  by  the  missionaries  themselves.  It  is  enough  for  the 
present  to  let  them  know  that  we  sympathize  with  them, 
that  we  are  prepared  to  co-operate  in  every  practicable  way, 
and  that  we  heartily  favor  a  union  with  the  American  Board 
churches  in  Chihli  and  with  the  English  Baptists  in  Shantung, 
provided  it  is  understood  that  such  united  churches  are  to 
become  a  part  of  a  Church  of  Christ  in  China,  if  one  shall  be 
formed.  I  therefore  recommend  that  our  Board  notify  the 
American  Board  that  we  heartily  reciprocate  the  desire  of 
the  missionaries  of  the  North  China  Mission  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  for  the  union  of  the  Congregational  and  Presby- 
terian native  churches  in  the  Chihli  Province,  and  thus  avoid 
the  perpetuation  of  unnecessary  denominational  divisions, 
but  that,  in  view  of  the  pending  movement  to  unite  in  one 
organic  body  the  large  number  of  Christians  connected  with 
the  work  of  the  various  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Boards 
in  China,  we  hesitate  to  take  any  action  which  might  possibly 
cut  off  our  Chihli  work  from  participation  in  such  a  move- 
ment, and  that  we  should  be  glad  to  have  our  brethren  of  the 
American  Board  indicate  more  specifically  the  policy  which 
they  have  in  mind  for  the  proposed  united  Church  in  Chihli 
in  order  that  we  may  see  how  it  would  be  related  to  the 
larger  union  if  one  should  ultimately  be  formed. 

In  the  great  Province  of  Shantung,  some  important  ques- 
tions press  for  early  decision.     Prominent  among  them  is 

THE  REMOVAL  OF  TENGCHOW  COLLEGE. 

When  the  Rev.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Calvin  W.  Mateer  opened 
the  college  with  six  students,  in  September,  1864,  there  was 
little  choice  as  to  location,  for  Tengchow  was  then  the  influ- 
ential port  of  Shantung.  All  our  mission  work  was  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  and  our  only  other  station  in  the 
province  was  Chefoo,  at  that  time  a  far  less  important  place 
than  Tengchow.  But  with  the  opening  of  Chefoo  as  a  port 
and  the  development  of  our  mission  work  in  the  interior, 
Chinanfu  being  opened  as  a  station  in  1872,  the  influence  of 
Tengchow  declined  and  it  is  now  a  relatively  unimportant 
and  decaying  city.  The  Minutes  of  the  Shantung  Mission 
for  1878  show  that  at  that  time  the  question  of  removing  the 
College  was  discussed.     The  opening  of  Wei  Hsien  Station 


I04 

in  1882,  of  Ichowfu  Station  in  1891,  and  of  Chiningchow  Sta- 
tion in  1892,  emphasized  the  objections  by  throwing  Teng- 
chow  farther  on  one  side  than  ever.  In  the  mission  meeting 
of  1894,  there  was  a  long  debate  on  the  advisability  of  re- 
moving the  College  to  a  more  central  point,  and  much  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  location  was  expressed.  The  final  touch 
was  added  by  the  founding  of  Tsingtau  by  the  Germans  in 
1897,  its  selection  as  the  terminus  of  the  railway  and  tele- 
graph lines,  and  the  evident  fact  that  it  was  to  be  the  port  of 
arrival  and  departure  for  all  future  travel  and  commerce  with 
the  interior,  leaving  Tengchow  away  off  in  a  remote  corner, 
with  no  regular  lines  of  communication  with  the  rest  of  the 
province.  Comparatively  few  students  come  to  it  from  the 
Chinanfu,  Chiningchow  and  Ichowfu  Stations,  and  those  who 
do  come  must  have  help  in  paying  their  traveling  expenses. 
The  adjacent  population  is  comparatively  poor,  sparse  and 
inferior  in  type  to  that  of  the  rest  of  the  Province,  and  with 
a  dialect  which,  though  not  essentially  different  from  that  of 
Central  and  Western  Shantung,  is,  nevertheless,  different 
enough  to  be  distinctly  noticeable.  Then  our  Christian  con- 
stituency there  is  quite  small,  while  the  field  is  divided  with 
the  American  Southern  Baptists,  whose  convictions  will  not 
permit  them  to  fellowship  with  us,  save,  of  course;  in  person- 
al social  intercourse.  Moreover,  the  great  bulk  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  province,  the  center  of  its  influence  and  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  our  missionaries  and  native  Christians 
are  farther  west,  while  all  indications  point  to  the  great  future 
development  of  our  work  in  that  region.  It  is  plain  that  our 
College  is  too  far  from  its  constituency,  and  that  we  must 
either  move  it  or  found  another  institution  in  the  west — a 
wholly  impracticable  alternative. 

This  is  the  opinion  of  both  Missions.  A  joint  committee 
which  included  two  of  the  college  professors,  has  drawn  up 
a  statement  which  presents  the  following  reasons  unfavorable 
to  Tengchow : 

"First.  It  is  geographically  isolated,  being  located  on  the 
Shantung  Promontory  on  the  extremity  of  a  cape  that  pro- 
jects at  an  obtuse  angle  into  the  sea,  so  that  the  direction 
from  which  it  is  possible  for  students  to  come  is  from  one 
side  only. 

"  Second.  This  landward  side  is  mountainous.  Roads  are 
exceedingly  poor,  and  the  place  is  difficult  of  access.  Carts 
and  wheel-barrows  are  not  practicable,  and  the  communica- 
tion with  the  interior  is  confined  to  pack  trains,  litters  and 
saddle  animals.  The  land  is  poor,  and  the  price  of  grain 
higher  than  in  the  interior.  Coal  must  come  from  Chefoo  by 
junk,  after  having  come  across  the  sea  from  Japan  or  Taku 
by  steamer.     All  of  these  things  enter  as  a  factor  into  the 


I05 

cost  of  living,  and  cheapness  of  living  is  of  immense  im- 
portance to  students  the  world  over,  and  nowhere  so  much 
so  as  in  China.  It  will  easily  be  seen  that  this  has  a  distinct 
bearing  on  self-support. 

"Third.  Tengchow  is  exceedingly  eccentric  to  the  con- 
stituency. Within  fifty  miles  of  Tengchow  there  are  not 
more  than  250  Protestant  Christians  ;  and  within  seventy-five 
miles  there  are  not  more  than  600.  The  poor  mountain 
farmers  can  never  support  a  thick  population  such  as  is  found 
in  the  west.  Moreover,  a  college  located  in  a  place  not  easy 
of  access  and  eccentric  to  the  constituency  would  operate 
against  self-support.  The  English  Baptists  at  Ching  Chou 
Fu  will  be  developing  their  school  into  a  college  in  the  near 
future,  in  case  our  College  is  not  moved.  Such  an  institution 
on  the  railroad  would  be  easy  and  cheap  of  access.  With 
our  College  difficult  and  costly  of  access,  the  only  way  it 
could  maintain  a  hold  on  our  constituency  in  the  western 
region  would  be  to  offer  such  financial  advantages  as  would 
balance  the  difference  in  expense.  The  hindrance  it  would 
be  to  the  pushing  of  self-support  is  easily  seen.  It  would  be 
a  never-ending  handicap  on  the  college." 

There  is  now  absolutely  no  reason  for  leaving  our  College 
at  such  an  out-of-the-way  place,  except  the  fact  that  our  lim- 
ited plant  there  cannot  be  disposed  of  without  some  loss  ; 
though  Dr.  Mateer  thinks  that  some  of  the  materials  could 
be  transported  to  Wei  Hsien  and  used  in  rebuilding.  But 
the  accident  of  a  few  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  property  is 
a  poor  reason  for  maintaining  a  college  in  a  location  which 
seriously  cripples  its  usefulness. 

Wei  Hsien,  however,  appears  to  meet  all  the  conditions 
desired. 

"  First.  It  is  central  to  the  constituency.  Within  a  radius 
of  fifty  miles  of  Wei  Hsien  there  are  at  least  4,000  Christians, 
and  within  a  radius  of  100  miles  there  are  probably  8,000 
Christians,  4,000  of  whom  are  Presbyterians.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  Chefoo  and  Tengchow  fields,  and  the  whole  of 
the  Tsingtau  field,  lie  nearer  to  Wei  Hsien  than  to  Tengchow. 
From  Chinanfu  and  Ichowfu  to  Wei  Hsien  the  distance  is 
about  half  that  from  the  former  two  places  to  Tengchow, 
while  Wei  Hsien  would  be  quite  within  reach  of  Chiningchow, 
even  were  there  no  prospect  of  a  railroad  to  shorten  the  dis- 
tance. Further,  between  two-thirds  and  three-fourths  of  the 
present  college  students  are  from  the  Wei  Hsien  field  ;  and 
if  we  include  those  from  Tengchow,  Chefoo  and  Tsingtau 
fields,  who  are  as  near  or  nearer  to  Wei  Hsien  than  Teng- 
chow, it  would  constitute  probably  eighty  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number.  There  is  a  distinct  gain  to  the  religious  at- 
mosphere of  the  College  by  having  it  located  in  the  midst  of 


io6 

a  large  body  of  Christians.  With  active  and  successful  evan- 
gelistic work  going  on  all  about  them,  the  students  are  more 
apt  to  be  imbued  with  an  earnest  evangelistic  spirit,  and  their 
thoughts  turned  to  the  service  of  the  ministry. 

"Second.  Wei  Hsien  is  geographically  a  central  location, 
independent  of  the  present  Christian  constituency.  A  large 
and  thickly  settled  population  lies  in  all  directions,  so  that 
future  growth  wall  but  emphasize  the  advantages  we  now  be- 
lieve it  to  possess. 

"Third.  A  railroad  is  rapidly  being  pushed  from  the  port 
of  Tsingtau  via  Wei  Hsien  to  Chinanfu.  This  will  bring  Wei 
Hsien  into  closer  touch  with  all  the  main  portions  of  the 
Shantung  field.  Moreover,  it  is  contemplated  to  extend  this 
railroad  into  Honan  Province  on  the  west,  and  another  main 
line  north  and  south  will  connect  with  the  regions  worked  by 
the  Southern  Presbyterians.  If  in  the  future  a  theological 
school  were  opened  at  Wei  Hsien  in  connection  with  the  Col- 
lege, the  railroad  would  render  it  possible  for  us  to  co-operate 
in  theological  instruction  with  the  Southern  Presbyterians, 
with  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  in  Honan,  and  with  our  own 
northern  mission.  The  valid  argument  made  against  Wei 
Hsien  six  years  ago,  that  an  inland  station  would  involve  in- 
creased outlay  for  freight  on  college  and  other  supplies,  is 
now  removed  by  the  building  of  the  railroad. 

"Fourth.  Wei  Hsien  is  in  the  midst  of  rich  farming  lands, 
and  possesses  the  largest  market  between  Chefoo  and  Chi- 
nanfu. The  roads  reaching  out  in  all  directions  are  (for 
China)  good  ones.  For  these  reasons,  food  stuffs  are  not  a 
little  cheaper  than  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  province.  Coal 
mines  are  close  at  hand. 

"Safety  of  property.  The  united  action  of  the  two  Mis- 
sions was  taken  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  a  mob  had  laid 
the  Wei  Hsien  property  in  ruins.  The  feeling  of  all  was  that 
it  was  an  accident  of  time  rather  than  of  place.  Railroad 
riots  and  the  political  explosion  coincided.  It  was  agreed 
that  no  special  danger  attaches  to  the  location,  and  with  the 
development  of  the  railroad,  the  mines  and  the  commerce 
about  Wei  Hsien,  it  is  likely  to  become  as  secure  a  place  for 
residence  as  there  is  in  the  province." 

For  these  reasons,  the  joint  meeting  of  the  two  Missions 
last  year  asked  the  Board  to  sanction  the  removal  of  the  col- 
lege to  Wei  Hsien.  I  have  carefully  traversed  the  subject 
with  the  members  of  every  station  of  the  North  China  Mis- 
sions, and  I  find  that  the  vote  for  Wei  Hsien  is  unanimous. 
In  Tengchow  itself,  the  chairman  of  the  station  meeting  said 
to  me,  in  open  session,  and  there  was  no  dissent :  "  There  is 
no  use  in  further  discussing  the  removal  to  Wei  Hsien,  as 
that  is  settled  so  far  as  we  are  concerned." 


I07 

The  final  reason  is  the  announcement  by  Governor  Yuan 
Shih  Kai  of  the  establishment  of  a  great  Provincial  College 
at  Chinanfu,  and  the  acceptance  of  its  presidency  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  W,  M.  Hayes,  the  honored  president  of  our  own  College, 
who  has  already  relinquished  his  position  at  Tengchow,  and 
removed  to  Chinanfu  under  salary  from  the  Governor.  While 
all  deplore  the  departure  of  Dr.  Hayes  as  a  heavy  if  not  an 
irreparable  loss  to  mission  education,  yet  it  is  generally 
agreed  that  it  is  wise  for  him  to  accept  the  high  post  offered 
him.  It  would  be  a  calamity  to  have  such  an  influential  in- 
stitution controlled  by  a  non-Christian  man,  as  it  is  an  ines- 
timable advantage  to  have  the  new  and  progressive  system 
of  provincial  education  organized  by  one  in  such  close  sym- 
pathy with  Christian  ideals.  Let  us  be  thankful  that  the  mis- 
sion cause  could  furnish  the  leader  needed,  and  accept  the 
compliment  implied  to  Dr.  Hayes  and  to  Christian  missions. 
But  the  new  Provincial  College  has  not  yet  received  that  Im- 
perial endorsement  which  is  necessary  to  guarantee  its  per- 
manence, especially  as  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai  has  now 
been  transferred  to  the  viceroyalty  of  Chihli.  Moreover,  the 
official  order  for  Confucian  worship  may  create  conditions 
which  a  Christian  president  would  find  intolerable.  If  for 
these  or  other  reasons.  Dr.  Hayes  should  prefer  to  return  to 
mission  work,  he  will  be  heartily  welcomed.  The  Board  has 
not  accepted  his  resignation,  so  that  his  status  is  that  of  a 
missionary  on  detached  duty.     He  is  a  very  valuable  man. 

This  new  enterprise  does  not  lessen  the  necessity  for  a 
well-equipped  college  of  our  own.  State  universities  in 
America,  even  under  the  presidency  of  the  most  eminent 
Christian  men,  have  signally  failed  to  produce  adequate  sup- 
plies of  ministers.  How  much  more  signal  is  likely  to  be 
the  failure  of  a  state  institution  in  China,  which  has  absolute- 
ly no  Christian  affiliations  except  the  personal  faith  of  the 
individual  who  for  the  time  presides  over  it.  Dr.  Hayes  will 
carry  his  faith  into  anything  he  undertakes.  Indeed,  he  has 
already  begun  chapel  preaching  in  Chinanfu;  but  it  would  be 
unfair  to  expect  him  to  turn  out  preachers  from  a  university 
which  is  not  designed  to  be  Christian,  much  less  a  training 
school  for  Christian  workers. 

"  For  our  purposes,"  writes  an  experienced  missionary, 
"we  regard  it  preferable  to  spend  a  little  more  money  in 
raising  up  from  the  middle  and  lower  classes  strong  and 
virtuous  men,  than  to  relax  our  standard  and  modify  our 
curriculum  so  as  to  bring  in  the  rich  and  official  classes,  who 
would  pay  liberally  but  whose  character  and  habits  we  could 
not  control.  A  few  such  we  might  assimilate,  but  a  larger 
number  would  speedily  demoralize  the  school.  The  rich  and 
official  classes  in  China  are  so  strongly  addicted  to  opium 


io8 

smoking,  wine  drinking,  feasting,  etc.,  that  they  would,  as 
we  know  from  a  little  experience,  be  restive  under  discipline, 
take  ethical  studies  only  under  compulsion,  and,  in  fact,  by 
influence  and  example  become  a  strong  disintegrating 
agency." 

Moreover,  most  of  our  Christian  boys  could  not  enter  the 
university  even  if  they  wanted  to.  This  is  not  only  because 
of  the  distance  of  Chinanfu  from  their  homes,  for  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  marriage  in  China  is  at  an  earlier  age  than 
in  America,  so  that  many  college  students  have  families,  but 
because  the  students  of  the  Provincial  University  are  to  be 
two  from  each  of  the  one  hundred  and  eight  counties  of  the 
Province,  and  to  be  nominated  by  the  county  magistrates. 
None  of  these  magistrates  are  Christians,  and  they  will 
naturally  give  the  preference  to  the  sons  of  the  wealthy  and 
official  classes,  especially  as  candidates  must  have  completed 
their  native  classics  about  as  far  as  the  first  degree.  So  we 
must  have  our  own  college. 

But  plainly  we  should  not  build  it  under  the  shadow  of 
such  a  great  and  necessarily  secular  institution  as  the  Prov- 
incial University.  We  cannot  compete  with  its  ampler  plant 
and  equipment,  nor  with  the  prestige  of  an  institution  backed 
by  all  the  power  of  the  State.  We  can  educate  our  pastors 
and  helpers  to  better  advantage  at  a  station  which  we  can 
dominate.  Therefore  I  recommend  that  the  Board  approve 
the  removal  of  the  College  from  Tengchow  to  Wei  Hsien. 

Additional  land  there  will,  of  course,  be  required,  and 
on  the  authority  of  the  Board's  action  of  February  4th,  the 
station  has  already  purchased  an  adjoining  tract  of  about 
170x600  feet  for  $1,496  (Mexican).  I  think  the  campus 
should  be  still  further  enlarged  as  opportunity  opens  and 
funds  become  available. 

The  aim  of  the  College,  it  seems  to  me,  should  emphasize 
the  training  of  Christian  pastors,  evangelists,  teachers  and 
laymen.  And  yet  I  would  not  too  rigidly  narrow  the  scope 
of  the  institution.  wStudents  who  do  not  have  Christian  work 
in  mind,  and  who  are  not  even  Christians,  will,  of  course,  be 
admitted.  Some  of  the  best  material  for  the  churches  will 
often  be  developed  in  the  course  of  study.  Undoubtedly, 
too,  many  graduates  will  not  and  should  not  enter  Christian 
work.  We  must  give  a  sound  education  to  the  young  men 
of  Shantung  and  fit  them  for  leadership  as  laymen  as  well  as 
clergymen.  We  need  educated  Christian  men  not  only  in  the 
pulpit,  but  in  the  community.  Dr.  Hayes  forcibly  says : 
'  Every  able,  efficient  man  graduated,  whether  preacher, 
teacher,  physician,  engineer  or  other  professional  man,  is  so 
much  clear  gain  to  the  nation.  At  present  China  is  helpless, 
for  her  leading  men  from  the  country  district  magistrate  up 


I09 

to  the  Grand  Council,  if  not  morally  untrustworthy,  are, 
through  lack  of  proper  training,  incompetent ;  so  we  find  the 
Customs,  the  Imperial  Postal  Department,  etc.,  in  the  hands 
of  foreigners,  and  every  source  of  national  revenue  not  in 
charge  of  foreigners  is  a  place  for  extortion  and  peculation. 
In  her  railroads,  steamship  lines,  arsenals,  etc.,  she  is  com- 
pelled to  use  foreigners  ;  no  native  has  the  skill  and  train- 
ing. Her  legal  advisers  are  foreigners,  and  while  all  these 
may  be  efficient,  honorable  men,  yet  no  country  can  main- 
tain its  rights  unless  self-dependent."  If  we  are  to  retain 
our  Christian  leadership  in  Shantung  and  rightly  discharge 
our  responsibilities,  we  cannot  ignore  this  phase  of  the  edu- 
cational question.  But  the  governing  principle  should  dis- 
tinctly be  "  For  Christ  and  the  Church."  The  Provincial 
University  will  meet  the  demand  for  a  purely  secular  educa- 
tion, under  the  influence  of  a  Christian  president.  Our  chief 
business  as  a  mission  agency  and  with  mission  money  is  to 
train  men  for  the  leadership  of  the  native  church.  To  this 
end,  the  College  should  not  only  be  a  part  of  our  mission 
compound,  but  its  plant  and  equipment  should  be  in  harmony 
with  mission  ideals.  An  early  effort  should  be  made  to  se- 
cure special  gifts  for  the  necessary  buildings  and  apparatus. 
It  may  be  easier  to  get  them  by  asking  individuals  to  erect 
or  furnish  particular  buildings  than  to  find  persons  who  will 
give  large  sums  for  a  general  endowment,  though,  of  course, 
such  persons  should  be  sought  if  practicable.  The  running 
expenses  might  wisely  be  the  income  of  an  endowment  for 
that  purpose,  if  it  can  be  secured,  and  if  it  is  to  include  the 
professors'  salaries,  the  amount  authorized  by  the  Board 
November  6th  and  20th,  1899  — $250,000— would  not  be  too 
large.  But  until  that  can  be  secured,  as  liberal  a  provision 
as  possible  should  be  made  in  the  regular  appropriations. 
The  College  should  not  be  held  down  to  the  almost  beggar- 
ly and  constantly  fluctuating  grant  it  has  hitherto  received. 
Shantung  is  one  of  the  clearest  and  most  vital  fields  for  edu- 
cational work  that  we  have  anywhere  in  the  world,  and  our 
College  there  ought  to  have  a  proportionate  support. 

The  question  has  been  raised  whether  such  a  College 
should  be  under  the  control  of  an  independent  board  of  trus- 
tees. But  the  advantages  of  that  plan  are  not  apparent. 
The  members  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  are  selected 
with  great  care  from  the  very  best  available  Presbyterian 
ministers  and  laymen  among  the  five  million  people  living 
within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles  of  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York.  There  are  no  wiser  ministers  in  our  denomination,  no 
more  sagacious  and  consecrated  business  men  in  our  national 
metropolis.  It  is  a  well-organized  body.  It  meets  regularly 
every  two  weeks.     It  has  a  permanent  Committee  on  China 


and  another  permanent  Committee  on  Finance.     Their  mem- 
bers take  a  personal  interest  in  the  problems  committed  to 
them.      The   China    and    Finance    Committees  know    about 
the  College    and    are    in   sympathy  with  its   objects.       The 
Board    has    a    secretary    for    North    China    who    forms    an 
easy  and  regular  channel  of  communication  between  the  Col- 
lege and  the  Board.     There  is  not  the   slightest  reason   for 
believing  that  it  would  be  possible  to  constitute  another  board 
of  better  men  than  are  already  found  on  the  Foreign  Board. 
There  is  no  guarantee  for  the  wisdom  or  the  continued  in- 
terest of  an  independent  board  except  the  personal  character 
of  the  men    who    compose  it.     That  character  may  change 
with  years.     But  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  a  stable  body, 
and  there  is    guarantee   for    wisdom  in  a  Board  which  the 
Church  itself  appoints,  and  which  it   can  and  does  hold  to 
strict  accountability.     Moreover,  experience  has  shown  that 
an  independent  board  cannot  as  efficiently  and  harmoniously 
co-operate  with  an    institution  thousands  of  miles  away  as 
our  Foreign  Board  can.     Several  institutions  in  other  parts 
of  the  foreign  field  have  such  independent  boards  of  directors 
in  America.     Some  of  the  officers  and  members  of  our  Board 
are  members  of  them.     The  consensus  of  opinion  is  that,  with 
possibly  one  or  two  exceptions,  this  plan  does  not  work  so 
satisfactorily  as  the  other.     The  members  of  such  a  board, 
having  only  this  bond  of  union,  do  not  meet  often  enough, 
and  cannot  come  into  sufficiently  close  contact  with  the  col- 
lege.    The  professors  in  some  of  these  institutions  have  re- 
peatedly lamented  that  the  independent  board  is  unworkable. 
In  one  instance,  at  least,  they  are  contemplating  the  expedi- 
ency of  asking  the  trustees  to  turn   over   all   their  functions 
to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  then  go  out  of  exist- 
ence.    Experience  has  also  shown  that  the  relations  of  the 
independent  board  and  the  Board  of  Foreign   Missions   are 
apt  to  become  confused.     For  example,  in  some  cases  the 
foreign  professors  are  appointed  by  the   Board   of  Foreign 
Missions,  and,  therefore,  have  the  rights  and  privileges  inci- 
dent to  that  appointment,  but  they  are  also  under  the  author- 
ity of  a  separate  Board  of  Trustees.     They  are,  therefore,  in 
a  sense,  under  the  control  of  two  distinct  bodies.     Each  body 
acts  separately,  and  the  rights  and  privileges  accorded  by  the 
Board  have   sometimes   conflicted  with   the  rules  formulated 
by  the  trustees.     Embarrassment   has   thus   developed  as  to 
the   question   of  furloughs,  traveling   expenses,  etc.     If  the 
professors   are   not  missionaries,  these  embarrassments  are 
avoided,  but   graver  ones  are  incurred;  that  is,  if  the  aim  of 
the  college  is  missionary. 

Surely  we  ought  to  learn  something  from  experience,  and 
the  experience  of  many  years,  during  which  both  plans  have 


been  carefully  watched,  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that,  what- 
ever functions  ought  to  be  discharged  by  a  board  in  the 
United  States,  can  be  discharged  with  greater  efficiency  and 
economy,  and  with  less  confusion  and  friction,  by  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  which  has  been  appointed  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  for  the  express  purpose  of  exercising  such 
a  relationship  on  behalf  of  the  givers  to  the  work  and  workers 
on  the  field.  In  this  great  enterprise  of  missions,  the  home 
Christians  and  the  foreign  missionaries  must  work  in  partner- 
ship. Neither  can  get  along  without  the  other.  The  home 
church  must  be  depended  upon  to  provide  the  money,  to  train 
'the  men,  to  send  them  forth,  and,  so  far  as  human  resources 
are  concerned,  to  maintain  the  whole  enterprise  by  their  sym- 
pathies and  gifts  and  prayers.  Now  the  Presbyterian  Church 
has  itself  constituted  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  as  the 
agency  through  which  these  influences  shall  flow  to  the  for- 
eign field.  The  Board  reports  to  it  not  only  in  the  religious 
press,  in  pamphlets,  leaflets,  letters,  in  innumerable  addresses, 
in  churches,  Presbyteries,  Synods  and  ministers'  meetings, 
but  particularly  to  the  General  Assembly  itself,  where  the 
whole  work  is  reviewed  and  set  in  proper  relations  before 
the  entire  Church.  In  these  circumstances,  why  should  any 
particular  institution  on  the  foreign  field  be  cut  off  from  direct 
relations  with  the  Presbyterian  Church  by  being  placed  under 
some  separate  agency,  and  thus  deprived  of  the  right  to  be 
heard  as  a  part  of  the  missionary  enterprise  for  which  the 
whole  Church  is  responsible,  for  which  the  prayers  of  the 
whole  Church  are  offered,  a  part  of  the  enterprise,  too,  which 
may  be  presented  before  the  great  judicatories  of  the  Church? 

My  beloved  colleague,  the  Rev.  Dr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  who 
has  had  more  than  thirty  years'  experience  as  a  secretary, 
and  who  ishimself  a  member  of  the  Boards  of  Trustees  of 
two  institutions  which  are  separately  organized,  makes  the 
following  statement : 

"I  have  been  familiar  with  the  history  of  Robert  College 
in  Constantinople,  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in  Beirut, 
the  Meiji  Gakuin  in  Japan,  the  Doshisha  of  the  American 
Board  at  Kyoto,  our  Christian  College  at  Canton  and  the 
Protestant  College  of  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil.  The  resultant  con- 
clusion which  I  have  been  compelled  to  reach  is,  that  it  is 
better  for  a  missionary  college  itself,  and  for  all  the  mission- 
ary interests  which  it  is  designed  to  subserve, that  it  should  be 
and  should  continue  to  be  closely  identified  with  the  mission 
and  some  missionary  board.  This  arrangement  better  suits 
the  Church  at  large,  and  increases  that  confidence  which  is 
necessary  for  the  support  of  such  an  institution.  The  church- 
es know  little  of  the  Christian  college  as  a  separate  organ- 
ization, but  they  know  the  Presbyterian  Board.      They  know 


little  of  the  Christian  College  at  Canton,  or  the  College  at 
Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  but  they  feel  safe  with  respect  to  their 
gifts  so  long  as  they  are  controlled  by  the  Board,  which  is 
itself  the  servant  of  the  General  Assembly  and  is  amenable 
to  it.  It  is  better  for  the  college  itself,  as  shown  by  the 
judgment  of  those  who  are  not  connected  with  our  Church. 
In  the  case  of  the  College  at  Canton,  the  two  subscribers  who 
had  given  two  of  the  three  largest  amounts  for  its  endowment 
— namely,  Mr.  Martin,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Mr.  David  Torrens, 
of  this  city — both  united  in  a  special  request  that  the  consti- 
tution drawn  up  by  Dr.  Happer  should  be  so  changed  as  to 
make  the  trustees  eligible  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 
The  reason  for  this  request  was,  that  they  had  given  this 
money  as  a  missiona.y  gift  for  missionary  purposes,  and 
they  feared  the  possible  effect  upon  the  College  of  an  out- 
side and  irresponsible  trusteeship.  The  constitution  was 
changed  accordingly,  much  against  the  wish  of  Dr.  Hap- 
per. The  subsequent  course  of  Dr.  Happer  in  regard  to  the 
institution,  his  long  continued  effort  to  remove  it  from  Can- 
ton and  to  make  it  more  definitely  a  secular  institution,  etc., 
was  believed  to  justify  the  wisdom  of  the  request  and  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Board  in  regard  to  it.  The  most  recent  history  of 
that  institution,  and  the  action  of  its  local  directory,  has  con- 
vinced the  trustees  of  the  wisdom  of  an  appellate  power 
here  in  New  York.  A  similar  experience  occurred  in  the  ac- 
tion of  the  legal  directory  of  Beirut  College,  some  years  ago. 
It  was  a  result  of  having  a  mixed  and  composite  board  of  di- 
rectors on  the  field.  The  trustees  in  New  York  became 
alarmed  lest  the  institution  might  drift  away  from  the  origi- 
nal purpose  for  which  it  was  founded,  and  become  less  and 
less  a  Christian  college.  There  are  two  Christian  colleges 
now  connected  with  the  Board — namely,  at  Canton  and  at  Sao 
Paulo — both  of  which  are  under  the  direction  of  a  trusteeship. 
Of  the  former,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  would  be 
glad  if  it  were  wholly  under  the  direction  of  the  Board,  or 
were  more  closely  connected  than  it  is.  The  management 
would  be  simplified,  and,  I  think,  greater  efficiency  would  be 
secured.  With  respect  to  Sao  Paulo,  I  may  say  the  same 
thing,  but  it  so  happens  that  the  conditions  under  which  these 
institutions  have  received  large  endowments  forbid  this  di- 
rect connection,  although  in  the  case  of  Sao  Paulo,  the  Board 
pays  several  thousands  of  dollars  toward  the  salaries  of  pres- 
ident and  professors.  The  trustees,  although  they  are  sup- 
posed to  raise  more  or  less  money,  really  raise  very  little. 
Three  of  them  are  members  of  our  Board,  and  a  close  and 
harmonious  relationship  is  kept  up,  but  the  machinery  is  awk- 
ward, and  the  directory  in  Brazil  is  virtually  a  dead  letter." 
I  believe  not  only  that  the  professors  should  be  appointed 


"3 

with  reference  to  their  missionary  as  well  as  their  education- 
al qualifications,  but  that  they  should  be  members  of  the  West 
Shantung  Mission,  on  precisely  the  same  plane  as  other  mis- 
sionaries. I  am  aware  that  this  is  a  disputed  point.  Some 
feel  that,  with  a  fixed  endowment  income  exempt  from  a  cut, 
the  college  men  should  have  no  voice  over  a  cut  on  other 
work.  But  there  is  no  endowment  yet,  and  it  may  be  some 
time  before  there  will  be  one  so  ample  as  to  give  the  College 
all  it  asks.  Moreover,  the  regular  appropriations  now  main- 
tain the  existing  work  of  the  whole  Mission  without  a  cut, 
and  we  hope  that  they  will  continue  to  do  so.  Even  if  they 
should  not,  and  the  College  should  have  its  full  endowment, 
it  would  not  follow  that  there  would  be  any  injustice  to  the 
evangelistic  and  medical  work  in  giving  votes  to  the  college 
men.  A  cut  is  not  determined  by  a  mission,  but  by  the  fail- 
ure of  the  home  churches  to  give  enough  money.  The  mis- 
sion and  station  task,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  confined 
to  distributing  it.  The  fact  that  the  special  work  of  a  few 
individuals  may  not  be  affected  is  not  an  adequate  reason 
for  disfranchising  them,  and  cutting  them  off  from  all  organic 
relation  with  the  missionaries  among  whom  they  live  and 
work.  Presumably,  the  common  work  is  dear  enough  to 
them  to  make  their  judgment  upon  it  of  some  value,  especial- 
ly as  a  mission  can,  if  it  chooses,  refer  the  adjustment  of  a 
cut  to  a  committee  composed  of  those  most  directly  con- 
cerned. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged  that  an  educator  should  not 
be  compelled  to  submit  his  plans  to  the  votes  of  men  who 
are  engaged  in  evangelistic  and  medical  work;  that  they  do 
not  have  the  proper  technical  qualifications  for  intelligently 
passing  upon  such  matters,  and  that  the  college  men  should 
be  emancipated  from  mission  control.  On  the  contrary,  I  af- 
firm that  they  are,  of  all  missionaries,  the  very  ones  who 
should  not  be  so  emancipated,  and  who  should  be  expected 
and  required  to  submit  their  plans  for  the  approval  of  their 
brethren.  If  this  argument  for  separation  proves  anything, 
it  proves  too  much,  for  it  would  immediately  segregate  the 
hospitals,  which  require  far  more  technical  knowledge  than  a 
college,  while  the  boarding  school  teachers  could  set  up  an- 
other plea,  and  the  evangelists  themselves  could  with  justice 
assert  that  they  know  as  much  about  education  as  profession- 
al educators  know  about  evangelistic  work,  and  so  a  princi- 
ple would  be  established  which  would  split  a  mission  into  a 
number  of  diverse  cliques.  I  believe  that  the  men  who  are 
in  charge  of  the  evangelistic  work  should  have  a  voice  in  de- 
ciding the  policy  of  the  institution  which  must  be  the  main  de- 
pendence for  supplying  the  pastors,  evangelists,  helpers, 
elders,   deacons  and  Sunday-school  superintendents  for  the 


114 

churches.  It  is  essential  to  the  interests  of  both  college  and 
mission  that  they  should  be  vitally  connected  with  one  an- 
other. The  college  men  should  keep  in  touch  with  the  gen- 
eral work  by  Sunday  preaching,  by  occasional  itineration  and 
by  visitation  of  the  out-station  schools.  The  college  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  co-operation  of  the  mission,  and  if  the  co- 
operation is  to  be  effective,  it  should  be  organic. 

Painful  experience  on  several  fields  has  shown  that  when 
an  institution  is  divorced  from  mission  control  it  rapidly  de- 
velops a  centrifugal  movement.  This  is  not  because  of  any 
deliberate  intention  on  the  part  of  its  faculty,  but  because  the 
inherent  tendency  of  the  ambitious  teacher  is  to  press  his  work 
out  of  proportion  to  other  mission  enterprises,  to  make  it 
more  and  more  professional  and  technical  and  highly  special- 
ized. While  this  may  be  proper  and  even  desirable  in  Amer- 
ica, yet  amid  the  partially  developed  conditions  of  the  foreign 
field,  it  ultimately  throws  the  college  out  of  vital  relation  to 
the  mission  needs,  producing  men  who  will  not  enter  the  min- 
istry, who  have  been  educated  out  of  sympathy  with  their 
countrymen,  whose  scientific  equipment  can  find  no  sphere 
among  their  own  people,  and  whose  financial  requirements 
can  only  be  satisfied  by  permanent  foreign  employment. 

Let  us  heed  the  lesson  of  experience,  and  keep  our  Col- 
lege and  Mission  together.  There  may  be  slight  embarrass- 
ment at  times,  growing  out  of  the  fact  that  the  College  is  not 
a  station  but  a  mission  institution.  But  it  will  be  insignifi- 
cant in  comparison  with  the  historical  dangers  of  the  other 
policy,  and  it  can  be  minimized,  as  already  indicated,  by  in- 
sisting upon  the  college  men  taking  some  part  in  the  local 
work.  Four  professors  ought  to  give  enough  of  such  help 
to  be  the  equivalent  of  one  additional  ordained  man  in  the 
general  Wei  Hsien  work. 

Fortunately,  the  present  college  men  are  of  this  stamp. 
They  are  missionaries  as  well  as  professors — men  who  love 
evangelistic  work  and  who  are  accustomed  to  make  itinera- 
ting tours.  In  my  conference  with  them  in  Tengchow,  they, 
with  Dr.  Mateer,  unaminously  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  relation  of  college  professors  to  the  Mission  should  be 
the  same  as  that  of  the  other  missionaries — viz.,  regular  mem- 
bers. As  for  Wei  Hsien,  the  Rev.  Frank  Chalfant  wrote  to 
the  Board  last  year:  "It  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Wei 
Hsien  Station  that  the  College  should  form  part  of  the  pres- 
ent compound  or  mission  plant,  and  not  constitute  a  separate 
community.  The  complications  that  would  be  sure  to  grow 
out  of  a  double  Wei  Hsien  station,  or  even  a  doubled  mission 
plant  under  the  same  station  name  and  control,  are  plain  to 
those  who  have  had  experience  in  such  things." 

A  field  board  of  directors  appears  to  be  advisable,  espec- 


1^5 

iaily  as  two  and  possibly  more  missions  are  to  co-operate  in 
the  support  of  the  College.  Their  support  can  be  more  ef- 
fectively given  through  a  small  number  of  men  selected  with 
reference  to  their  qualifications  for  such  work  than  by  the 
comparatively  large  bodies  meeting  only  once  a  year.  On 
this  point  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion.  A  plan  for  such 
a  local  directorate  was  presented  to  the  Board  by  a  Shantung 
missionary  in  1899,  and,  with  slight  modifications,  was  in- 
corporated in  the  report  of  the  China  Committee  and  Execu- 
tive Council,  tentatively  approved  November  6  and  20  of  that 
year.  That  report  proposed  nine  directors,  representing 
each  of  the  five  Presbyterian  boards  working  in  Shantung, 
Chihli,  Honan  and  Manchuria. 

Some  brethren,  however,  whose  ability  and  experience 
entitle  their  judgment  to  great  weight,  have  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  Assembly's  Board  and  the  Missions  should 
surrender  to  this  field  board  a  considerable  part  of  their 
powers,  so  that  the  directors,  when  elected,  would  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  control  of  the  Missions,  and  would  be  amen- 
able to  the  New  York  Board  only  on  the  written  appeal  of 
three  members.  They,  therefore,  recom.mend  changes  in  the 
report  of  the  China  Committee  and  the  Executive  Council, 
which  one  of  them  summarizes  as — 

"First,  enlarging  the  powers  of  the  field  board  of  direc- 
tors, and  second,  safeguarding  the  interests  of  the  College 
as  endowed,  and  consequently  the  use  of  the  fund  against 
possible  inimical  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  itself." 

Commenting  on  these  proposed  changes,  this  brother 
writes: 

"The  first  is  done  not  in  any  spirit  of  jealousy  toward  the 
Board  in  New  York,  but  in  order  to  secure  a  hearty  interest 
in  the  College  among  the  missions  on  the  field.  Unless  this 
is  secured  the  endowment,  however  carefully  guarded,  will 
be  guarded  to  but  little  purpose.  To  gain  this  interest  and 
active  support,  we  must  make  their  able  and  influential  men 
feel  that  it  is  a  part  of  their  work,  something  for  the  success 
or  failure  of  which  they  will  be  held  responsible.  The  only 
way  to  do  this  is  to  lay  responsibility,  guarded  if  you  will, 
but  still  real  and  heavy,  upon  them. 

"In  regard  to  the  second  main  criticism  made  on  the  plan 
sent  us,  we  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  impugning  the 
good  faith  of  the  Board.  Nothing  is  farther  from  our  inten- 
tions. At  the  same  time  it  must  be  remembered  that,  in 
the  order  of  events,  the  membership  of  the  Board  changes. 
New  men  often  bring  in  new  ideas,  and  unless  the  interests 
of  the  fund  are  carefully  guarded  here  also,  not  only  is  the 
College  jeopardizd,  but  we  doubt  if  an  endowment  could  be 


ii6 

raised.  We  have  also  thrown  out  the  word  'cut,'  as  its  use 
implies  that  these  funds  after  all  are  part  of  the  Board  of 
Missions'  assets,  their  proceeds  being  exempted  from  cut  by 
promise  only.  As  this  money  is  supposed  to  be  given  for 
the  cause  of  Christian  higher  education  in  China,  we  wish  to 
secure  this  money  from  ever  being  diverted  to  any  other 
purpose." 

It  seems  to  me,  however,  that  the  changes  thus  proposed: 

First.  Unduly  weaken  the  responsibility  of  the  Assembly's 
Board  in  order  to  unduly  strengthen  the  responsibility  of  the 
field  board. 

Second.  Assume  that  a  field  board  elected  by  six  differ- 
ent Missions  of  five  different  denominations  and  four  differ- 
ent countries  (United  States,  Canada,  Ireland  and  Scotland), 
Missions  in  which  many  changes  annually  occur  by  death, 
resignation  and  new  appointment,  aboard  independent,  when 
once  elected,  of  their  control,  and  responsible  to  no  other 
body,  unless  three  members  make  a  written  appeal  to  New 
York  from  a  decision  of  the  majority — assume,  I  say,  that 
such  a  board  would  be  more  attractive  to  donors  of  an  en- 
dowment, a  safer  and  more  stable  custodian  of  funds  and  a 
surer  guarantee  against  unwise  changes  in  policy  than  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  which  is  an  incorporated  body, 
amenable  in  its  use  of  trust  funds  to  the  laws  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  which  is  appointed  by  and  is  subject  to  the  re- 
view and  control  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  highest  re- 
sponsible body  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  is  personal- 
ly known  to  and  is  under  the  easy  observation  of  the  givers 
from  whom  any  endowment  is  to  be  sought,  and  which  has 
a  record  of  sixty-four  years  of  stability  and  trustworthiness 
in  handling  the  funds  entrusted  to  it. 

Third.  Involve  the  very  separation  from  mission  control 
and  the  very  dangers  of  centrifugal  development  which  I 
have  already  presented,  and  which  I  find  that  the  majority 
of  the  missionaries  wish  to  avoid.  One  of  the  signers  above 
mentioned  frankly  said  to  me — I  quote  from  my  notes  made 
at  the  time:  "The  field  board  of  directors  should  not  be  amen- 
able to  the  Missions.  They  can,  of  course,  instruct  their 
representatives  in  the  board,  and  they  can  affect  the  policy 
of  the  board  by  not  re-electing  a  director  if  they  do  not  ap- 
prove his  attitude.  But  when  the  field  board  votes,  its  de- 
cision should  be  final,  unless  appeal  is  taken  to  New  York." 
But  another  missionary  objected  that  this  would  simply 
throw  the  entire  control  of  the  College  into  the  hands  of  the 
president,  unchecked  even  by  such  control  as  resides  in  the 
board  of  trustees  of  an  American  college,  for  a  field  board 
in  China,  scattered  all  over  the  vast  region  occupied  by  the 


117 

missions  named,  and  separated  by  weary  weeks  of  travel  in 
cart  or  shendza,  could  seldom  meet,  and  the  functions  of  the 
average  member  would  inevitably  degenerate  into  simply 
signing  circular  letters  prepared  and  sent  around  by  the  pres- 
ident. 

Another  reason  strongly  urged  by  some  for  such  a  field 
board  of  directors  is  that  "experience  has  shown  that  the 
station  and  Mission  either  will  not  or  cannot  control  the  col- 
lege. Many  of  the  members  of  the  Mission  do  not  take 
sufficient  interest  in  the  work  of  the  College,  but  leave  the 
faculty  to  itself.  The  few  who  are  interested  hesitate  to 
oppose  anything  that  the  president  and  professors  advocate, 
so  that  matters  have  drifted  into  an  unfortunate  condition. 
The  present  field  board  feels  that  it  is  but  a  figure-head. 
The  need  is  for  a  field  board  which  will  take  an  active  inter- 
est and  exercise  real  management." 

If  this  be  true,  and  I  have  been  freely  told  that  it  is,  the 
recourse  plainly  is  not  to  create  a  new  board,  which  will  be 
still  more  widely  scattered  than  the  old  one,  but  for  the  Mis- 
sion to  take  a  deeper  interest  and  exercise  its  undoubted 
rights  of  control.  I  fail  to  see  why  a  field  board  which  can 
meet  but  once  or  twice  a  year  will  be  any  more  elficient  than 
a  Mission  composed  of  men  living  near  the  College.  The 
trouble  is  not  with  the  present  system,  but  with  the  failure 
to  work  it.  I  am  not  willing  to  admit  that  our  method  of 
mission  control  is  so  fatally  defective  as  this  argument 
would  imply.  As  in  our  home  Presbyteries  which  do  not 
exercise  proper  authority  over  their  churches,  the  remedy  is 
not  to  organize  another  body  for  that  purpose,  but  for  the 
one  already  constituted  to  do  the  work  for  which  it  exists. 
The  Board  gives  the  Missions  all  requisite  power  for  this 
purpose.  Why  acquiesce  in  their  abdication  of  it,  or  assume 
that  it  will  be  any  more  efficiently  wielded  by  a  board  con- 
sisting of  men  of  various  denominations  and  nationalities 
distributed  all  over  North  China  ?  Our  Board  is  sometimes 
criticized  for  not  giving  the  missions  power  enough.  But 
here  are  missionaries  confessing  their  inability  to  use  the 
powers  they  already  have,  and  a  secretary,  as  is  frequently 
the  case,  urging  them  to  magnify  their  office. 

I  am,  therefore,  of  the  opinion  that  the  plan  outlined  in 
the  Report  of  the  China  Committee  and  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, November  6  and  20,  1899,  is  to  be  preferred,  though 
I  would  change  "third"  by  confining  the  membership  of  the 
field  board  to  representatives  of  our  own  Missions — namely, 
three  from  East  Shantung,  three  or  four  from  West  Shan- 
tung, one  or  two  from  Peking  and  the  president  of  the  Col- 
lege ex  officio.  It  is  the  judgment  of  nearly  all  our  North 
China  missionaries  that  any  more   widely  distributed    field 


ii8 

board  would  be  practically  unworkable,  and  that,  while  as- 
sociation with  missions  of  other  denominations  is  a  hope  of 
the  future,  it  is  not  yet  feasible  in  Shantung  and  will  not  be 
until  railway  facilities  are  better  than  they  are  now. 

The  English  I-]aptists,  however,  may  possibly  call  for  an 
exception,  as  their  chief  work  is  near  Wei  Hsien  and  as  the 
relations  between  the  two  bodies  of  missionaries  are  remark- 
ably close  and  cordial.  A  committee  of  the  English  Baptist 
Mission  is  now  conferring  with  similar  committees  of  our 
Shantung  Missions.  But  the  Baptist  committee  is  not  yet 
sure  of  the  co-operation  of  the  educational  leaders  of  its  own 
Mission,  nor  of  the  Board  in  England.  It  simply  represents 
the  informal  but  cordial  and  unanimous  desire  of  the  com- 
paratively few  men  who  are  now  on  the  field.  The  project 
was  not  definite  enough  when  I  left  China  to  justify  me  in 
doing  more  than  to  assure  both  the  Baptist  commiittee 
and  our  own  Missions,  in  answer  to  ciuestions,  that  our 
Board  is  on  record  as  heartily  favoring  co-operation  in 
educational  work  wherever  practicable,  and  that,  while  I  could 
not  commit  it  to  any  decision  on  this  particular  case  until  we 
know  more  fully  what  our  Baptist  brethren  desire,  yet  that  I 
was  disposed  to  encourage  the  committees  to  confer  and  re- 
port on  the  subject. 

Until  their  desire  shall  take  some  authoritative  form 
which  our  Missions  and  Board  can  approve,  I  believe  it  will 
be  wiser,  considering  the  character  and  aim  of  our  College, 
that  it  should  be  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  our  own 
Missions,  within  whose  bounds  it  is  to  be  located.  It  is  the 
wise  policy  of  the  Board  to  dignify  the  mission,  to  recognize 
its  authority  within  its  legitimate  sphere,  and  to  leave  to  it 
all  practicable  discretion  in  the  supervision  of  the  details  of 
the  work.  This  is  our  system.  This  is  Presbyterianism  as 
we  practice  it  in  our  foreign  mission  work.  I  see  no  valid 
reason  for  making  the  College  an  exception  to  the  other  in- 
stitutions and  work  of  the  Missions.  These  Missions  are 
composed  of  wise,  strong  and  experienced  missionaries. 
They  live  and  work  in  the  immediate  field  of  the  College. 
They  appreciate  its  importance.  They  know  its  needs. 
They  understand  the  work  which  the  College  ought  to  do, 
and  they  are  competent  to  superintend  the  local  activities  of 
the  institution.  Without  their  support  the  College  cannot 
possibly  succeed,  and  no  independent  board  should  be  inter- 
posed between  them  and  the-  College  to  deaden  their  sense 
of  responsibility  for  it.  For  the  practical  details  of  operation 
they  can  vest  in  their  representatives  in  the  field  board  of 
directors  as  much  of  their  own  power  as  they  choose,  subject 
to  their  review  and  control  in  annual  meeting.  If  the 
necessities  of  some  future  great  endowment  or  of  union  with 


119 

other  denominations  render  necessary  modifications  in  the 
constitution  and  duties  of  the  field  board  of  directors,  they 
can  be  made  when  the  necessities  appear.  But  as  the  case 
stands  now,  I  am  convinced  that  both  Missions  and  Board 
will  be  wise  in  keeping  the  College  in  their  own  hands  and 
in  refraining  from  cumbering  the  machinery  of  our  mission- 
ary organization  by  adding  another  agency  which,  once 
formed,  will  be  beyond  our  control. 

It  is  a  well-known  and  eminently  just  principle  that  the 
mover  of  a  proposition  is  not  to  be  held  responsible  for  all 
the  consequences,  which  another  man  imagines  will  flow 
from  it.  It  should  not  be  supposed,  therefore,  that  I  for  a 
moment  charge  upon  the  brethren  who  desire  a  highly  or- 
ganized and  authoritative  field  board  of  directors  the  results 
which  I  have  anticipated,  much  less  that  I  believe  them  to  be 
actuated  by  distrust  of  either  the  Missions  or  the  Board. 
But  we  are  considering  neither  men  nor  motives,  but  a 
proposition  to  which  we  sustain  responsible  relations  before 
the  givers,  the  missions  and  the  Church,  and  as  it  has  been 
formally  placed  before  us,  we  have  no  alternative  but  to 
frankly  discuss  what  appear  to  us  to  be  its  inherent  character 
and  tendency. 

I  close  this  part  of  my  report  by  quoting  the  words  of  a 
beloved  brother  who  urges  the  formation  of  a  field  board  of 
directors,  "with  enlarged  powers":  "If  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  waits  until  it  can  obtain  absolute  unanimity  on  the 
mission  field  before  taking  action  in  regard  to  these  points, 
it  will  probably  wait  until  doomsday." 

But  whatever  the  Board  may  see  fit  to  do  as  to  these 
questions  of  organization,  I  earnestly  hope  that  both  Board 
and  missionaries  will  unite  in  inaugurating  for  the  College  a 
new  era.  Under  the  leadership,  first  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Calvin 
W.  Mateer  and  then  of  Dr.  W.  M.  Hayes,  it  has  exerted  a 
splendid  influence.  The  lines  on  which  it  is  working  are 
more  nearly  in  accord  with  the  true  ideals  of  higher  Christian 
education  on  the  foreign  field  than  those  of  any  other  college 
of  which  I  have  knowledge.  Its  instruction  is  thorough,  the 
course  covering  six  years  and  including  the  branches  most 
necessary  to  adequate  equipment  for  a  life  work.  It  is 
Chinese,  not  giving  the  young  men  a  knowledge  of  English, 
which  seals  up  their  training  in  a  language  which  must  al- 
ways be  foreign  to  them,  and  encourages  them  to  run  oflE  to 
the  United  States,  or  to  seek  emploj^ment  in  treaty  ports, 
but  communicating  truth  in  their  native  tongue  and  thus 
turning  their  faces  toward  their  own  people,  among  whom 
they  must  live  and  work,  and  to  whom  they  can  easily  trans- 
mit that  which  they  have  learned  from  the  missionary.  Not 
one  of  the  graduates  of  the  College  has  left  his  native  land. 


Of  how  many  other  colleges  on  the  mission  field  can  that  be 
said?  And  the  instruction  is  Christian,  There  is  no  com- 
promise on  this  point ;  no  concession  to  ambitious  Chinese 
who  wish  to  get  a  secular  education  in  a  mission  institution. 
Christianity  pervades  every  part  of  the  College.  The  Presi- 
dent of  St.  John's  College  at  Shanghai,  American  Protestant 
Episcopal,  publishes  in  his  official  prospectus  the  statement 
that  "very  seldom  is  a  convert  made  from  the  ranks  of  the 
heathen  boys  ;  they  come  to  us  heathen,  and  when  they  leave 
us  they  are  still  nominally  heathen,  though  I  emphasize  the 
word  nominally,  for  I  firmly  believe  that  all  our  Christian 
training  has  not  been  without  effect."  But  it  is  a  significant 
fact  that  every  one  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
graduates  of  our  Tengchow  college  has  been  a  Christian,  and 
that  none  of  them  since  has  gone  back  to  heathenism. 

To-day  the  graduates  of  this  institution  are  to  be  found 
throughout  all  North  China  as  pastors,  evangelists,  teachers, 
physicians  and  Christian  business  men.  They  are  in  demand 
for  positions  of  influence.  Every  high  school  north  of  the 
Yangtse  River  includes  one  or  more  of  the  Tengchow  grad- 
uates. The  new  university  at  Peking  had  six  of  them  on  its 
faculty,  while  the  new  Imperial  University  at  Nanking  has  three 
and  wants  more.  Thus  the  College  is  one  of  the  mightiest 
of  influences  for  the  Christian  development  of  China. 

This  success  has  been  obtained  rather  by  the  splendid 
ability  and  fidelity  of  the  foreign  inissionaries  who  have  had 
immediate  charge  of  the  College  than  by  the  financial  sup- 
port of  the  home  churches.  Drs.  Mateer  and  Hayes  have 
spared  neither  their  strength  nor  their  money.  The  Board 
has  appropriated  a  full  proportionate  share  of  its  general 
funds,  but  the  amount  which  could  thus  be  given  has  been 
necessarily  subject  to  the  fluctuations  of  our  treasury,  while 
it  has  always  been  painfully  inadequate  to  the  needs.  The 
sum  available  for  all  the  expenses  of  the  College  the  last 
year  before  the  Boxer  outbreak,  exclusive  of  the  foreign 
missionaries'  salaries,  was  less  than  $1,800,  while  the  appar- 
atus has  been  either  made  or  secured  by  Dr.  Mateer  himself. 
We  should  not  allow  this  condition  of  affairs  to  continue, 
particularly  at  this  time,  when  China  is  undergoing  a  trans- 
formation which  affords  imperial  opportunities,  not  only  for 
missionary  work  in  general,  but  for  higher  Christian  educa- 
tion in  particular.  In  this  College  the  Presbyterian  Church 
now  has  a  position  of  educational  leadership  which  ought  to 
be  maintained. 

In  the  eloquent  language  of  Dr.  Hayes  : 

"  For  the  sake  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  China  we 
need  a  college  fairly  well  endowed.  At  present  in  North 
China  there  are  five  Presbyterian  missionary  bodies  at  work. 


121 

The  Presbyterian  Church  (North)  has  its  strongest  missions 
in  Shantung,  with  churches  scattered  almost  all  over  the 
Province.  It  has  also  a  mission  in  Chihli,  another  in  Kiangsu, 
v^ith  work  projected  in  Anhwei.  The  Scottish  and  Irish 
Presbyterians  have  strong  missions  in  Manchuria,  to  our 
north.  On  the  southwest  the  Canadians  have  a  mission  in 
Honan.  To  all  the  above  missions  we  supply  helpers  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent.  On  the  south,  the  Southern  Presby- 
terians have  mission  work  along  the  Grand  Canal.  What 
Washington  and  Jefferson  colleges  were  to  the  early  Pres- 
byterian churches  west  of  the  Alleghenies  a  strong  college 
here  might  be  to  those  bodies  in  China,  and  through  them 
to  the  future  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  empire.  At  the 
same  time,  just  as  at  present,  and  as  in  every  other  similar 
institution  in  America,  its  influence  would  in  no  way  be  lim- 
ited to  any  denomination  or  belief.  That  the  Christian 
people  of  China  will  become  influential  and  mould  to  any 
great  extent  the  general  character  of  the  nation  without  first 
becoming  more  intelligent  and  capable  than  the  mass  by 
which  it  is  surrounded,  is  not  to  be  expected.  Those  lands, 
like  Scotland,  Holland  and  New  England,  which  early  pro- 
vided good  schools  and  colleges,  with  strong  moral  influences 
surrounding  them,  still  reap  the  reward  of  this  foresight  in 
the  general  character  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  refer  to  nations  which  pursued  the  opposite  course." 

Nor  are  we  alone  in  this  high  estimate  of  its  importance 
to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  China.  President  W,  A.  P.  Martin, 
of  the  Imperial  Chinese  University,  writes  :  "  The  Tengchow 
College  is,  in  my  opinion,  second  to  no  institution  in  China, 
in  the  thoroughness  of  the  scientific  training  which  it  im- 
parts. In  respect  of  moral  and  religious  education,  it  stands 
equally  high  in  my  estimation.  No  enterprise  in  China  is 
more  deserving  of  Christian  aid  and  sympathy  than  that  of 
providing  a  permanent  supply  of  oil  for  this  great  lighthouse 
of  Shantung.  If  Christians  at  home  only  knew  what  a  de- 
termined effort  is  being  made  to  exclude  Christian  teachers 
and  Christian  text-books  from  Chinese  Government  schools, 
from  the  Imperial  University  down,  they  would  exert  them- 
selves to  give  a  Christian  education  to  the  youth  of  China." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  M.  Woods,  of  the  Southern  Pres- 
byterian Mission,  writes :  "  The  writer  can  bear  testimony  to 
the  high  standing  which  the  Tengchow  College  has  taken, 
and  to  the  efficiency  and  zeal  of  its  president  and  teachers. 
In  the  mental  and  moral  training  which  it  gives,  the  College 
is  believed  to  be  second  to  none  in  China.  Its  graduates  oc- 
cupy positions  of  usefulness  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
and  there  is  a  constant  demand  made  upon  it  to  supply 
teachers  for  other  schools  and  colleges.     The  prospects  of 


usefulness  in  the  future  are  increasingly  bright.  As  Western 
science  and  civilization  win  their  way  more  and  more  in  China, 
the  sphere  of  influence  of  such  institutions  will  be  far- 
reaching.  It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  importance  of 
well-conducted  Christian  colleges  as  agencies  which  are  con- 
tributing to  the  mental  and  spiritual  regeneration  of  China, 
in  moulding  the  character  of  those  who  will  be  leaders  of 
thought  and  action  in  coming  years.  Thoroughness  of  teach- 
ing, economy  of  administration,  and  an  earnest  Christian  in- 
fluence— these  features  of  Tengchow  College  will  surely  com- 
mend it  to  the  benevolence  of  those  who  appreciate  Christian 
education,  and  who  desire  to  expend  their  funds  where  the" 
best  return  will  be  secured." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hunter  Corbett,  of  Chefoo,  says:  "  I  have 
watched  with  the  deepest  interest  the  growth  of  your  College 
from  its  very  beginning,  and  rejoice  in  the  splendid  and 
thorough  work  done  in  the  College.  After  every  yearly  visit 
I  make  to  Tengchow,  my  constant  and  growang  wonder  is 
how  you  are  able,  with  such  limited  means,  to  give  men  such 
a  solid  and  practical  education.  Not  only  the  Presbyterian 
Mission,  but  many  of  the  missions  of  other  denominations  in 
China,  can  never  fully  estimate  the  value  of  the  able  preach- 
ers and  teachers  you  have  trained." 

From  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chauncey  Goodrich,  then  acting  presi- 
dent of  the  North  China  College  (Congregational),  near 
Peking,  comes  this  strong  testimony:  "Nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  I  picked  up  an  educational  pamphlet  in  Vermont, 
and  at  the  top  of  the  cover  read :  '  We  build  schoolhouses 
and  raise  men.'  This  is  the  motto  of  which  Vermont  is  proud. 
Precisely  this  work  you  are  doing  at  Tengchow.  During  my 
stay  of  three  months  last  year  with  you,  I  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  excellent  work  you  are  doing  in  making, 
not  scholars  alone,  but  men.  I  knew  before  what  an  educa- 
tion you  were  giving,  but  I  did  not  know  so  well  the  moral 
and  spiritual  forces  of  the  college,  which  I  was  specially  de- 
lighted to  witness.  Taking  everything  into  account,  includ- 
ing the  training  in  the  classics  and  the  natural  sciences,  I 
know  no  college  in  China  which  will  match  your  College. 
Now  is  the  time  in  China  to  prepare  for  a  great  advance. 
How  little  most  men  understand  what  relation  a  Christian 
college  in  the  heart  of  China  bears  to  the  uplifting  of  a  con- 
tinent and  the  regeneration  of  a  quarter  of  the  world." 

Many  similar  testimonies  could  be  cited.  The  general 
opinion  of  men  of  all  denominations  who  are  familiar  with 
educational  work  in  China,  is  expressed  by  Dr.  A.  P.  Parker, 
of  Shanghai,  when  he  writes:  "There  is  no' educational 
institution  in  China  that  is  more  worthy  of  support  than  your 
College.     I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  yours  is  by  all 


123 

odds  the  best  of  all  the  schools  and  colleges  in  China,  whether 
belonging  to  the  government  or  under  missionary  control. 
By  patient,  persevering  labor,  according  to  a  well-conceived 
and  definite  plan.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Mateer,  and  later,  Dr.  Hayes, 
have  built  up  an  institution  of  high  grade,  where  Chinese 
youth  are  receiving  a  real  college  education,  and  the  demand 
for  your  trained  men  is  to-day  much  greater  than  the  supply." 

March  21,  1898,  the  Board  voted  that  while  it  "sees  no 
reason  for  changing  its  former  deliverances  on  this  subject, 
so  far  as  to  authorize  any  general  canvass  for  this  purpose, 
yet  in  the  case  of  some  exceptional  institutions  it  would  not 
be  unprepared  to  receive  large  gifts  for  the  purpose  of.  en- 
dowments." November  6  and  20,  1899,  this  was  supple- 
mented by  a  specific  approval  of  an  effort  to  secure  an  en- 
dowment of  $250,000  for  Tengchow  College.  The  time  has 
now  come  when  obedience  to  the  call  of  Providence,  and  a 
wise  use  of  the  opportunity  which  God  has  opened  to  us  in 
North  China,  imperatively  demand  that  a  more  energetic 
effort  should  be  made  to  put  the  College  on  a  firmer  basis. 

I  earnestly  hope  that  the  Board  will  take  such  immediate 
steps  as  will  enable  the  College  to  open  at  Wei  Hsien  at  the 
earliest  practicable  moment.  It  is  neither  necessary  nor  de- 
sirable to  wait  for  the  whole  endowment.  The  land  has  al- 
ready been  purchased,  and  if  one  or  two  college  buildings, 
with  the  houses  for  the  professors,  cannot  be  at  once  provid- 
ed by  special  gifts,  we  should  make  an  advance  from  the 
Shantung  indemnity  for  Wei  Hsien  Station,  since  the  neces- 
sities for  the  station  itself  will  be  so  largely  met  by  the  special 
Pittsburg  rebuilding  fund.  It  is  easy  to  conjure  up  dii^cul- 
ties.  Any  of  us  can  make  a  long  list  if  we  are  given  time. 
But  none  of  them  are  insuperable  enough  to  justify  us  in 
leaving  our  best  mission  college  to  stagger  along  amid  un- 
favorable conditions,  while  we  wait  for  ideal  ones  to  mater- 
ialize. As  John  Sherman  said  of  specie  payments:  "The 
only  way  to  resume  is  to  resume."  The  location  of  Teng- 
chow College  has  been  discussed  for  more  than  thirteen 
years.  It  is  now  high  time  to  act.  The  additional  equip- 
ment can  be  provided  as  money  and  needs  develop. 

REBUILDING  THE  DESTROYED  STATIONS. 

In  this  work,  Peking,  Paotingfu  and  Wei  Hsien  should 
have  the  assistance  of  an  architect.  The  entire  plants  of 
those  stations  are  to  be  rebuilt,  and  the  addition  of  the  col- 
lege buildings  at  Wei  Hsien  will  swell  the  total  to  formidable 
proportions.  Moreover,  Chiningchow  Station,  which  I  re- 
gard as  one  of  our  important  strategic  centers  in  China, 
though  not  destroyed,  should  be  almost  wholly  rebuilt,  as  it 


124 

is  composed  of  native  buildings,  utterly  unfit  for  missionary 
residence  and  work.  Never  before  has  it  been  necessary  for 
us  to  undertake  building  operations  in  any  one  country  and 
at  any  one  time  on  so  large  a  scale.  The  missionaries  are 
men  of  good  sense  and  administrative  ability,  but  they  frank- 
ly say  that  their  previous  training  has  not  fitted  them  for  the 
duties  of  supervising  architects.  The  curriculum  of  a  theo- 
logical seminary  or  a  medical  school  does  not  include  such 
studies.  My  examination  of  the  buildings  of  our  own  and 
other  boards  in  various  missions  in  Japan,  Korea  and  China 
has  shown  that  some  of  the  very  best  missionaries  do  not 
know  how  to  construct  a  building  properly,  while  some  who 
do  know  are  forced  by  the  pressure  of  missionary  work  to 
leave  too  much  to  the  discretion  of  the  native  workmen,  so 
that,  in  some  cases,  defective  foundations  or  walls  have 
necessitated  repairs  almost  as  soon  as  a  building  is  complet- 
ed. Even  if  the  missionaries  had  the  experience,  they  have 
not  the  time.  The  force  at  tho-se  stations,  even  in  ordinary 
circumstances,  is  hardly  adequate  to  the  conduct  of  the  regu- 
lar missionary  work.  Just  now,  indeed,  it  is  painfully  in- 
adequate, while  the  peculiar  situation  in  China  presents 
problems  and  opportunities  which  imperatively  demand  the 
utmost  strength  of  the  missionaries.  It  would  be  calamitous 
to  divert  practically  half  of  this  scanty  force  from  their  work 
among  the  Chinese  for  a  year  or  more,  in  order  to  direct 
carpenters  and  bricklayers.  This  is  the  time  for  increasing 
the  missionary  work,  not  diminishing  it. 

The  Board  has  already  recognized  the  principle,  by  send- 
ing an  architect  to  Korea  to  assist  that  Mission  for  a  year.  I 
have  cabled  a  request,  most  heartily  endorsed  by  the  Shan- 
tung missionaries,  that  he  be  sent  to  Wei  Hsien  for  a  month 
this  fall,  to  draw  plans  and  to  make  estimates  for  materials. 
The  Peking  Mission  is  equally  desirous  of  having  his  assist- 
ance in  the  rebuilding  of  Peking  and  Paotingfu.  If  possible, 
he  should  return  in  the  spring  to  superintend  the  erection  of 
the  buildings.  Such  a  man  will  be  imperatively  needed,  and 
should  be  employed  by  the  Board  in  North  China  for  at  least 
a  year. 

On  the  general  subject  of  missionary  architecture,  I  find 
wide  differences  of  opinion  on  the  field.  Some  excellent 
missionaries  insist  on  keeping  as  close  as  possible  to  native 
lines,  so  that  a  mission  building  will  be  in  harmony  with  its 
surroundings,  and  will  conciliate  a  people  who  dislike  any- 
thing obtrusively  foreign.  Other  equally  able  and  experi- 
enced missionaries  prefer  a  building  of  distinctively  Ameri- 
can style,  a  residence  which  will  remind  them  of  home  — 
boldly  foreign  in  every  outline.  Some  good  men  believe 
that  mission  property  should  be   severely   plain,  as   more  in 


harmony  with  the  missionary  purpose,  the  poverty  of  the 
people,  and  the  principle  of  self-support;  while  other  men, 
just  as  good,  insist  upon  a  scale  which  will  be  a  visible  wit- 
ness to  the  presence  and  dignity  of  the  Church  of  God,  and 
an   example  to    the  Chinese  of  what  religion  should  have. 

Coupled  with  this  diversity  of  view,  is  often  a  disposition 
to  regard  buildings  at  a  particular  station  as  a  local  matter, 
to  be,  within  the  limits  of  the  Board's  appropriation,  practi- 
cally determined  by  the  missionaries  who  for  the  time  con- 
stitute that  station.  They,  in  turn,  are  apt  to  leave  it  to  the 
individual  whose  work  or  residence  is  most  directly  involved. 
In  some  missions  there  is  no  "  Property  Committee  "  for  the 
mission,  but  the  mission  appoints  each  station  as  the  prop- 
erty committee  for  its  own  work. 

The  consequence  is  a  startling  variety  of  architectural 
types.  A  physician  builds  a  hospital  according  to  his  own 
ideas,  and  a  few  years  later  his  successor  finds  it  not  at  all 
adapted  to  his  notions.  A  man  plans  a  house  to  suit  the 
needs  of  his  particular  family,  and  within  a  year  his  death  or 
resignation  assigns  the  house  to  another  man,  who  must  have 
alterations  made.  One  missionary  is-  allowed  to  erect  a 
church  because  he  is  in  charge  of  it,  though  the  majority  of 
his  colleagues  do  not  conceal  from  a  visitor  their  dissent 
from  the  principles  which  the  edifice  typifies.  I  am  not  now 
referring  to  any  particular  mission  or  board,  but  giving  the 
general  impression  of  visits  and  conferences  in  many  fields 
of  all  denominations.  Our  own  work  presents  less  that  is 
objectionable  from  this  viewpoint  than  that  of  several  other 
boards.  And  yet  illustrations  are  not  wanting  in  our  own 
fields. 

It  will  be  noted  that  these  questions  are  not  at  all  ques- 
tions of  the  wisdom  or  ability  or  trustworthiness  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. It  is  altogether  beside  the  mark  to  reply  that  an 
authoritative  decision  by  the  mission  or  Board  would  "  argue 
a  distrust  of  the  station."  Often,  the  utterances  of  the 
members  of  the  station  themselves  show  that  they  have  not 
been  able  to  agree.  But  whether  they  could  agree  or  not, 
to  urge  that  an  interference  with  a  station  or  an  individual  in 
a  building  matter  implies  distrust  of  his  judgment  begs  the 
whole  question  at  issue.  The  very  essence  of  that  issue  is 
that  building  is  not  a  local  matter,  that  schools  and  hospitals 
do  not  belong  to  the  station  or  houses  to  the  men  who  for 
the  time  are  to  occupy  them.  Mission  property  belongs  to 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America.  It 
is  for  the  use  of  the  mission  work  of  that  Church.  In  our 
system,  the  Board  is  the  legal  and  responsible  owner  of  the 
property,  and  the  Board  looks  not  so  much  to  the  individual 
missionary  or  to  the  local  station  as  to  the  mission   as  the 


126 

field  representative  and  guardian  of  its  interests.  A  mission 
should  not  abdicate  its  rightful  function  on  the  supposition 
that  "  building  matters  should  be  left  to  the  station,"  nor  can 
we  for  a  moment  admit  that  a  desire  of  a  mission  or  the 
Board  to  see  plans  involves  an  unwillingness  to  trust  the  mis- 
sionaries immediately  concerned.  That  may  be  "  The  Gos- 
pel Mission"  idea,  but  it  is  not  the  Presbyterian.  We  be- 
lieve in  and  are  organized  on  the  principle  of  representative 
government. 

So  I  think  that  the  Board,  which  must  bear  the  real  respon- 
sibility for  consequences,  may  reasonably  require  that  houses 
should  be  built  for  the  uses  of  the  average  missionary  family, 
and  not  for  the  peculiar  needs  of  those  who  are  to  temporar- 
ily occupy  them  ;  that  we  should  not,  for  example,  have  two 
bedrooms  in  one  house  and  five  in  another,  because  the  first 
man  has  no  children  and  the  other  has  several,  but  build 
both  for  the  average  need.  Anything  beyond  that  should  be 
considered  a  personal  expenditure  which  does  not  constitute 
either  a  legal  or  a  moral  claim  for  the  first  occupant,  in  the 
event  of  such  changes  in  the  station  force  as  may  justify  a 
mission  in  assigning  another  family  to  that  particular  house. 
A  family  in  a  heathen  land  needs  a  comfortable  house.  The 
husband  should  be  given  a  reasonable  discretion  in  making 
it,  and  he  and  his  should  not  be  lightly  disturbed.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  personal  idiosyncrasies  should  not  be  perma- 
nently fastened  upon  a  place  which  does  not  belong  to  him, 
and  which  other  families  must  use  after  him ;  nor  should  a 
single  missionary  continue  to  occupy  alone  a  large  house  be- 
cause "it  is  his  "  or  "hers,"  while  a  family  is  dwelling  in 
discomfort  in  a  small  native  dwelling. 

I  think,  too,  that,  in  general,  the  style  of  architecture 
should  conform  as  nearly  as  practicable  to  that  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  the  building  is  situated.  Exact  similarity  is  not 
usually  expedient.  The  Asiatic's  conceptions  of  comfort  dif- 
fer from  ours,  while  of  sanitation  he  knows  nothing.  We 
should  not  live  on  damp  mud  or  stone  floors,  or  sleep  on 
heated  brick  kangs,  because  he  does.  Missionary  residences 
should  be  attractive  to  the  lonely  workers  to  whom  they  are 
often  the  only  bit  of  native  land  they  have.  Schools,  churches 
and  hospitals  should  be  adapted  to  their  respective  purposes, 
not  mere  sheds  or  hovels,  but  enough  above  the  level  of  the 
natives  to  afford  an  example  of  decency  and  sanitation  and 
the  possibilities  of  their  own  architecture.  But  they  should 
not  be  "monumental,"  Ostentation  should  be  scrupulously 
avoided.  Forms  of  architecture  which  needlessly  aggravate 
a  conservative  people,  and  which  stamp  the  whole  mission 
plant  as  something  essentially  and  defiantly  alien,  should  not 
be  adopted.     At  best,  we  are   foreign  enough  in  a  country 


127 

which  is  traditionally  hostile  to  the  outsider.  Let  us  not  un- 
necessarily arouse  this  sort  of  antipathy.  I  have  seen  mis- 
sion buildings  which,  if  I  were  an  Asiatic,  I  should  resent. 
I  should  instinctively  feel  that  the  men  who  lived  in  them 
were  not  of  my  sort,  that  the  religion  which  they  typified 
was  an  exotic,  and  that  to  espouse  it  was  in  some  sense  to 
expatriate  myself.  I  am  glad  to  add  that  those  buildings 
were  not  ours,  nor,  so  far  as  I  know,  would  our  missionaries 
erect  them,  even  if  they  had  the  requisite  funds.  But  there 
are  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics  who  need  to  remember 
that  the  Orient  can  never  be  Occidentalized.  Asia  will  be 
Asia  until  the  end  of  time,  and  not  America  or  Europe,  and 
if  China  is  to  become  Christian,  her  churches  will  not  be 
Gothic,  nor  will  her  schoolhouses  be  square,  stiff,  three-story 
bricks.  So  let  us,  as  far  as  practicable,  follow,  the  flowing, 
graceful  lines  of  Oriental  architecture,  which  are  really  more 
beautiful  than  our  own,  anyway,  build  substantially  and  com- 
fortably, but  on  as  modest  a  scale  as  is  compatible  with  rea- 
sonable taste,  health  and  permanence. 

I  believe  that  both  the  China  Missions,  which  now  have 
rebuilding  to  do,  are  in  harmony  with  these  views.  They 
would  doubtless  adopt  them  by  a  large  majority  if  they  were 
submitted  to  them  in  the  form  of  a  resolution.  All  the 
easier  is  it,  therefore,  for  me  to  write  so  .plainly  of  the 
principle,  and  to  urge  that  it  should  not  be  allowed  to  break 
down  through  any  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Missions  or  the 
Board  to  enforce  it  in  particular  cases.  We  have  an  unprec- 
edented opportunity  to  construct  model  station  plants  at 
Peking,  Paotingfu  and  Wei  Hsien  and  Chiningchow.  Let  us 
take  advantage  of  it. 

The  prices  of  labor  and  materials  have  sharply  advanced 
in  consequence  of  the  enormous  demands  incident  to  the  con- 
struction of  railways,  with  their  depots,  shops  and  round- 
houses, the  vast  engineering  schemes  of  the  Germans  at 
Tsingtau,  the  British  at  Wei  Hai  Wei  and  the  Russians  at 
Port  Arthur,  the  extensive  scale  on  which  the  Legations  are 
rebuilding  in  Peking,  the  reconstruction  of  virtually  the  entire 
business  portions  of  both  Peking  and  Tientsin,  as  well  as  the 
coincident  rebuilding  of  the  mission  stations  of  all  denomina- 
tions, Protestant  and  Catholic.  It  will  be  readily  understood 
what  all  this  activity  means  in  a  land  where  there  are  as  yet 
but  limited  supplies  of  the  kind  of  skilled  laborers  required 
for  foreign  buildings,  and  where  the  requisite  materials  must 
be  imported  from  Europe  and  America  by  firms  who  "are 
not  in  China  for  their  health." 

Nor  can  we  afford  to  "wait  till  the  rush  is  over."  The 
interests  of  our  mission  work  at  this  critical  time  are  too  vital 
to  be  made   secondary   to  railroads,  stores,   machine-shops 


128 

and  liquor  houses.  We  are  too  far  behind  now.  Besides,  it 
is  futile  to  hope  that  the  competition  will  be  materially  less 
next  year,  or  the  year  after,  or  the  year  after  that.  Com- 
merce and  politics  are  projecting:  works  in  North  China, 
which  will  not  be  completed  for  a  decade.  Railway  ofhcials 
tell  me  that  it  will  take  them  two  years  to  finish  their  line  to 
Chinanfu  and  four  years  to  construct  the  one  to  Ichowfu. 
The  German  Government  is  not  only  spending  11,000,000 
marks  this  year  for  streets,  sewers,  water  and  electric  light 
works,  barracks,  fortifications,  wharves  and  public  buildings 
in  Tsingtau,  but  it  has  voted  12,500,000  marks  a  year  for  ten 
years  for  deepening  and  enlarging  the  inner  harbor.  China 
has  entered  upon  an  era  of  commercial  development.  The 
Western  world  has  come  to  stay,  and  while  there  may  be 
temporary  reactions,  as  there  have  been  at  home,  prices  are 
not  likely  to  return  to  their  former  level.  There  are  vast 
interior  regions  which  will  not  be  affected  for  an  indefinite 
period,  but  for  the  coast  provinces,  in  which  our  chief  work 
is  situated,  primitive  conditions  are  passing  forever.  We 
should  rebuild,  therefore,  as  soon  as  the  state  of  the  country 
will  permit. 

But  while  we  cannot  anticipate  any  substantial  reduction 
in  wages  we  may  be  able  to  save  something  in  materials  by 
taking  advantage  of  the  wholesale  scale  on  which  we  must 
purchase.  Asia  is  too  densely  peopled  to  have  large  forests, 
and  those  she  has  are  not  within. easy  reach.  Native  lumber, 
therefore,  is  scarce  and  often  small  and  crooked.  That  in 
common  use  comes  from  Manchuria  and  Korea.  I  was  im- 
pressed in  T§ingtau  to  find  that  the  Germans  are  using 
Oregon  lumber  and  to  be  told  that  it  is  considered  the  best, 
and,  in  the  long  run,  the  cheapest.  The  Tsingtau  planing- 
mill  says  that  Oregon  pine  costs  more  than  the  Korean  and 
Manchurian,  but  that  it  is  superior  in  size  and  quality.  The 
transportation  charges,  however,  are  one  cent  per  pound  from 
Tsingtau  to  Wei  Hsien,  which  is  a  heavy  addition:  Man- 
churian pine  can  be  delivered  at  Wei  Hsien  via  the  junk  port 
of  Yangchiako  and  thence  by  land  for  $20  gold  per  thousand 
square  feet,  one  inch  thick,  which  is  considerably  less  than 
the  Tsingtau  retail  price  for  Asiatic  lumber.  Oregon  lumber 
costs  in  Shanghai  45  taels  (about  $32  gold)  per  thousand 
feet,  but  an  importer  estimates  that  it  can  be  delivered  at 
Tsingtau  for  $25  gold  per  thousand  in  large  quantities. 

I,  therefore,  recommend  that,  as  soon  as  the  local 
architect  employed  by  the  Mission  can  form  an  estimate  of 
the  materials  which  will  be  required,  and  the  form  in  which 
they  will  be  needed — viz.,  doors,  sashes,  flooring,  etc. — bids 
be  obtained  from  the  Pacific  coast  as  well  as  in  China.  Low 
freight  rates  could  probably  be  secured  for  so  large  a  con- 


I  29 

signment.  Direct  purchase  in  Oregon  may  be  found  to  be 
impracticable.  I  simply  advise  investigation.  Meantime,  I 
have  asked  the  Wei  Hsien  missionaries  to  examine  and  re- 
port to  the  Board  on  what  terms  they  can  obtain  a  cargo  of 
Oregon  lumber  which  has  been  unexpectedly  left  on  the 
agent's  hands  at  Chefoo. 

THE  VASTNESS  OF  THE  FIELD. 

The  magnitude  of  the  task  to  which  the  Church  has  set 
herself  in  China  is  almost  overwhelming.  In  spite  of  all  that 
I  had  read,  I  was  amazed  by  what  I  saw.  To  say  that  the 
empire  has  an  area  of  5,000,000  square  miles  is  not  sufficient- 
ly intelligible,  for  our  minds  are  not  able  to  comprehend 
such  an  enormous  figure.  But  it  may  help  us  to  remember 
that  China  is  one-third  larger  than  all  Europe,  and  that,  if 
the  United  States  and  Alaska  could  be  laid  upon  China  there 
would  be  room  left  for  half  a  dozen  Great  Britains.  Extend- 
ing from  the  fifty-fourth  parallel  of  latitude  on  the  north  to 
the  eighteenth  on  the  south,  the  empire  has  every  variety  of 
climate  from  arctic  cold  to  tropic  heat.  It  is  a  land  of  vast 
forests,  of  fertile  soil,  of  rich  minerals,  of  navigable  rivers. 
The  very  fact  that  it  has  so  long  sustained  such  a  vast  popu- 
lation suggests  the  richness  of  its  resources.  There  are  said 
to  be  600,000,000  acres  of  arable  soil,  and  so  economically 
and  thriftily  is  it  cultivated  that  many  parts  of  the  empire  are 
almost  continuous  gardens  and  fields.  Baron  von  Richthovon 
tells  us  that  China  has  600,000,000,000  tons  of  anthracite 
coal,  and  that  the  single  Province  of  Shensi  could  supply  the 
entire  world  for  a  thousand  years. 

Equally  difficult  is  it  for  us  to  comprehend  the  meaning 
of  400,000,000  as  applied  to  the  population  of  China.  But 
consider  that  the  eighteen  provinces  alone,  with  an  area  about 
equal  to  that  part  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  have  eight  times  the  population  of  that  part  of  our 
country.  In  the  vivid  language  of  Gracey,  "there  are  twice 
as  many  people  in  China  as  on  the  four  continents — Africa, 
North  and  South  America  and  Oceanica.  Every  third  per- 
son who  toils  under  the  sun  and  sleeps  under  God's  stars  is  a 
Chinese ;  every  third  child  born  into  the  world  looks  into  the 
face  of  a  Chinese  mother  ;  every  third  pair  given  in  marriage 
plight  their  troth  in  a  Chinese  cup  of  wine ;  every  third 
orphan  weeping  through  the  day,  every  third  widow  wailing 
through  the  night  are  in  China.  Put  them  in  rank,  joining 
hands,  and  they  will  girdle  the  globe  ten  times  at  the  equator 
with  living,  beating  human  hearts.  Constitute  them  pilgrims 
and  let  two  thousand  go  past  every  day  and  night  under  the 
sunlight  and  under  the  solemn  stars,  and  you  must  hear  the 


ceaseless   tramp,  tramp  of  the  weary,    pressing,    throbbing 
throng  for  five  hundred  years." 

There  is  something  almost  overpowering  in  the  immens- 
ity of  the  population.  Great  cities  are  amazingly  numerous. 
In  America  a  city  of  1,000,000  inhabitants  is  a  wonderful 
place,  and  all  the  world  is  supposed  to  know  about  it.  But 
how  many  in  the  United  States  ever  heard  of  Hsiang  Tan 
Hsien,  the  city  in  Hunan  in  which  we  are  opening  a  mission 
station  ?  Yet  Hsiang  Tan  Hsien  is  said  to  have  1,000,000 
inhabitants,  while  within  comparatively  short  distances  are 
other  great  cities  and  innumerable  villages.  There  are 
hundreds  of  Philadelphias  and  Bostons  and  Clevelands  in 
China,  while  Rochesters  and  St.  Pauls  and  Milwaukees  are  so 
common  as  to  be  commonplace.  Men  never  tire  of  writing 
magazine  articles  about  the  number  of  suburbs  around  New 
York  and  Chicago.  In  five  weeks'  constant  journeying 
through  the  far  interior  of  the  Shantung  Province,  the  coun- 
try districts,  as  we  would  call  them,  I  passed  through  a  vil- 
lage or  town  an  average  of  once  in  every  mile,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  towns  on  both  sides  which  my  road  did  not 
traverse. 

I  was  impressed  anew  by  the  worth  of  these  people. 
Multitudes  are,  indeed,  stolid  and  ignorant,  but  multitudes, 
too,  have  strong,  intelligent  features.  Thousands  of  chil- 
dren have  faces  as  bright  and  winning  as  those  of  American 
children.  More  strongly  than  ever  do  I  feel  that  Americans 
have  not  done  justice  to  the  character  of  the  Chinese.  I  do 
not  refer  to  the  bigoted,  corrupt  Manchu  oflEicials,  nor  to  the 
lawless  barbarians  who  were  among  those  who  flocked  to  the 
banners  of  the  Boxers,  just  as  in  our  own  land  lewd  fellows  of 
the  baser  sort  are  ever  ready  to  follow  the  leadership  of  a 
demagogue.  But  I  refer  to  the  Chinese  people  as  a  whole. 
Their  viewpoint  is  radically  different  from  ours,  and  we  have 
often  harshly  misjudged  them,  when  the  real  trouble  has  lain 
in  our  failure  to  understand  them.  Let  us  be  free  enough 
from  prejudice  and  passion  to  respect  a  people  whose  nation- 
al existence  has  survived  the  mutations  of  forty-eight  cen- 
turies; who  are  frugal,  patient,  industrious  and  respectful  to 
parents,  as  we  are  not;  whose  astronomers  made  accurate  re- 
corded observations  two  hundred  years  before  Abraham  left 
Ur;  who  used  paper  150  years  before  Christ,  and  fire-arms  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era;  who  first  grew  tea,  man- 
ufactured gun-powder,  made  pottery,  glue  and  gelatine;  who 
wore  silk  and  lived  in  houses  when  our  ancestors  wore  the 
undressed  skins  of  wild  animals  and  slept  in  caves;  who  in- 
vented printing  by  movable  types  500  years  before  that  art 
was  known  in  Europe;  who  discovered  the  principles  of  the 
mariner's  compass,   without   which  the  oceans   could  not  be 


131 

crossed,  conceived  the  idea  of  artificial  inland  waterways  and 
dug  a  canal  twice  as  wide  as  the  Erie  and  600  miles  long; 
who  invented  the  arch  which  is  the  basal  element  in  our  mod- 
ern architecture,  and  who  originated  our  modern  methods  of 
banking,  by  using  notes  of  exchange  instead  of  cash  or  bar- 
ter. In  the  year  1368  few  Europeans  dared  to  do  business  on 
a  credit  basis.  Bnt  there  has  recently  been  placed  in  the 
British  Museum  a  bank  note  bearing  that  date,  issued  by 
Hung-Wu,  Emperor  of  China.  The  Chinese  exalt  learning, 
and  alone  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  make  scholarship 
a  test  of  fitness  for  official  position.  True,  that  scholarship 
moves  along  the  narrow  lines  of  Confucian  classics,  but  sure- 
ly such  knowledge  is  a  far  higher  qualification  for  ofRce  than 
the  brute  strength  which  for  centuries  gave  precedence  among 
our  ancestors. 

We  must  not  form  our  opinion  from  the  Chinese  whom  we 
see  in  the  United  States.  True,  most  of  them  are  kindly  and 
patient,  while  some  are  highly  intelligent.  But,  with  com- 
paratively few  exceptions,  they  are  from  the  lower  classes  of 
a  single  province — Cantonese  coolies.  The  Chinese  might 
as  fairly  form  their  opinion  of  Americans  from  our  day-labor- 
ers. But  there  are  able  men  in  the  Celestial  Empire.  Bishop 
Andrews  returned  from  China  to  characterize  the  Chinese  as 
"a  people  of  brains."  When  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang  visit- 
ed this  country  all  who  met  him  unhesitatingly  pronounced 
him  a  great  man.  After  General  Grant's  tour  around  the 
world  he  told  Senator  Stewart  that  the  most  astonishing 
thing  which  he  had  seen  was  that  wherever  the  Chinese  had 
come  into  competition  with  the  Jew,  the  Chinese  had  driven 
out  the  Jew.  We  know  the  persistence  of  the  Jew,  that  he 
has  held  his  own  against  every  other  people.  Despite  the 
fact  that  he  has  no  home,  and  no  government;  that  he  has 
been  ridiculed  and  persecuted  by  all  men;  that  he  is  an  alien 
in  race,  country  and  religion,  he  has  labored  on,  patiently, 
resolutely,  distanced  every  rival,  surmounted  every  obstacle, 
compelled  even  his  enemies  to  acknowledge  his  shrewdness 
and  his  determination;  till  to-day  in  Russia,  in  Austria,  in 
Germany,  in  England  the  Jew  is  bitterly  conceded  to  be  mas- 
ter in  the  editorial  chair,  at  the  bar,  in  the  universities,  in  the 
counting  house  and  in  the  banking  office;  while  the  proudest 
of  monarchs  will  undertake  no  enterprise  requiring  large  ex- 
penditure until  he  is  assured  of  the  support  of  the  keen-eyed, 
swarthy-visaged  men  who  control  the  sinews  of  war.  Gener- 
ations of  exclusion  from  agriculture  and  the  mechanical  arts, 
and  of  devotion  to  commerce,  have  duveloped  and  inbred  in 
the  Jew  a  marvelous  facility  for  trade. 

And  yet  this  race,  which  has  so  abundantly  demonstrated 
its  ability  to  cope  with  the  Greek,  the  Slav  and  the  Teuton, 


132 

finds  itself  outreached  in  cunning,  outworn  in  persistence  and 
overmatched  in  strength  by  an  olive-complexioned,  ahnond- 
eyed  fellow  with  felt  shoes,  baggy  trousers,  loose  tunic,  round 
cap  and  swishing  cjueue,  who  represents  such  swarming  myri- 
ads that  the  mind  is  confused  in  the  attempt  to  comprehend 
the  enormous  number.  The  canny  Scotchman  and  the  shrewd 
Yankee  are  alike  discomfited  by  the  Chinese.  Those  who  do 
not  believe  it  should  ask  the  American  and  European  traders 
who  were  crowded  out  ot  Saigon,  Shanghai,  Bangkok,  Sing- 
apore, Batavia  and  Manila.  It  is  true  that  the  Chinese  are  in- 
ordinately conceited,  but  shades  of  the  Fourth  of  July  orator, 
screams  of  the  American  eagle!  it  requires  considerable  self- 
possession  in  an  American  to  criticize  any  one  else  on  the 
planet  for  conceit.  The  Chinese  have  not,  at  least,  padded 
a  census  to  make  the  rest  believe  that  they  are  greater  than 
they  really  are. 

It  is  easy  to  be  deceived  by  the  result  of  the  war  with 
Japan.  The  Japanese  were  successful,  not  because  they  are 
smarter,  but  because  they  had  more  swiftly  responded  to  the 
touch  of  the  modern  world,  and  had  more  quickly  succeeded 
in  organizing  their  government,  their  army  and  their  navy  in 
accordance  with  scientific  methods.  More  bulky  and  phleg- 
matic China  was  caught  napping  by  her  wide-awake  enemy. 
Despising  the  profession  of  war  and  conceitedly  imagining 
that  no  other  nation  would  dare  to  trouble  her,  or  that  if  it 
did,  the  attack  could  be  no  more  serious  thanamosciuitobite, 
China  gave  her  energies  to  scholarship  and  commerce,  and 
filled  her  regiments  and  ships  with  paupers,  criminals  and 
opium  fiends,  who  were  as  destitute  of  courage,  intelligence 
and  patriotism  as  the  darky  who  explained  his  flight  from  the 
battle-field  by  saying  tnat  he  would  rather  be  a  live  coward 
than  a  dead  hero.  Moreover  China's  public  service  is  rotten 
with  corruption,  and  as  the  weakness  of  the  government  and 
the  absence  of  an  outspoken  public  press  leave  them  free 
from  restraint,  China  has  been  the  very  paradise  of  embez- 
zlers. A  Chinese  official  admitted  to  a  friend  of  mine  that  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  Japan  the  Chinese  Government 
contractors  had  bought  a  cargo  of  old  rifles  in  Germany 
which  had  long  before  been  discarded  as  worthless  by  the 
German  army,  paying  two  ounces  of  silver  for  each  gun,  and 
thriftily  charging  the  government  nine  ounces.  Then  they 
had  bought  a  cargo  of  cartridges  whi-ch  didn't  fit  the  guns, 
and  which  had  been  lying  in  damp  cellars  for  twenty  years, 
and  put  the  whole  equipment  into  the  hands  of  raw  recruits 
commanded  by  opiurp-smokers. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  Chinese  were  worst- 
ed in  the  onset  with  the  wide-awake  Japanese.  But  let  no 
man  imagine  that  this  is  the  end.     China  has  plenty  of  men 


^33 

who  can  fight,  and  when  they  enter  the  service  and  are  well 
commanded,  they  make  as  good  soldiers  as  there  are  in  the 
world,  as  "Chinese  Gordan"  showed.  Was  not  his  force 
called  the  "Ever  Viccorious  Army,"  because  it  was  never  de- 
feated? Did  not  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  of  the  English 
Navy,  say,  after  personal  inspection  of  most  of  the  soldiers 
of  China:  "I  am  convinced  that  properly  armed,  disciplined 
and  led,  there  could  be  no  better  material  tlian  the  Chinese 
soldiers?"  Did  not  the  fifty  Chinese  who  served  under  Admir- 
al Dewey  in  the  battle  of  Manila  fight  so  magnificently  that 
they  showed  themselves  equals  in  courage  of  the  American 
sailors,  and  were  commended  by  Admiral  Dewey  in  a  spec- 
ial report  urging  Congress  to  make  them  American  citizens? 
On  this  trip  I  have  seen  the  soldiers  of  England,  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  Austria,  Belgium,  Russia,  America  and  Japan, 
But  the  Chinese  cavalrymen  of  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai,  who 
escorted  me  through  Shantung,  were  as  fine  troops  as  I  saw 
anywhere.  There  are  7,500  of  them.  They  have  been 
drilled  by  German  officers,  are  splendidly  mounted,  armed 
with  modern  rifles,  and  would  be  a  foe  not  to  be  despised. 
When  Bishop  Potter  returned  from  his  tour  of  Asia,  he  ex- 
pressed a  high  opinion  of  the  Chinese  adaptability  for  modern 
civilization,  and  he  declared  that  "when  Japan  has  taught 
China  the  art  of  war,  neither  England  nor  Russia  nor  Ger- 
many will  decide  the  fate  of  the  East."  In  Siam,  in  the 
Philippines,  in  the  Strait  Settlements,  wherever  they  have 
gone,  the  Chinese  have  shown  themselves  to  be  successful 
colonizers,  able  to  meet  and  to  control  competition,  so  that 
to-day  the  business  of  Manila  and  Bangkok  and  Singapore 
is  largely  in  the  hands  of  these  aliens. 

It  is  common  for  people  to  praise  the  Japanese  and  to 
sneer  at  the  Chinese.  All  honor  to  the  Japanese  for  their 
splendid  achievements.  With  marvelous  celerity  they  have 
adopted  many  modern  ideas  and  inventions.  They  are 
worthy  of  the  respect  which  they  receive.  But  those  who 
have  made  a  close  study  of  both  peoples  unhesitatingly  de- 
clare that  the  Chinese  have  more  solid  elements  of  perma- 
nency and  power  than  the  Japanese.  The  Japanese  have  the 
quickness,  the  enthusiasm,  the  intelligence  of  the  French,  but 
the  Chinese  have  united  to  equal  intelligence  the  plodding 
persistence  of  the  Germans,  and  the  old  fable  of  the  tortoise 
and  the  hare  is  as  true  of  nations  as  it  is  of  individuals.  Un- 
questionably, the  Chinese  are  the  most  virile  race  in  Asia. 
"Wherever  a  Chinese  can  get  a  foot  of  ground  and  a  quart 
of  water  he  will  make  something  grow."  Colquhoun  quotes 
Richthoven  as  saying  that  "among  the  various  races  of  man- 
kind the  Chinese  is  the  only  one  which  in  all  climates,  the 
hottest  and    the    coldest,   is   capable    of    great    and    lasting 


134 

activity."  And  he  states  as  his  own  opinion:  "She  has  all 
the  elements  to  build  up  a  great  living  force.  One  thing 
alone  is  wanted — the  will,  the  directing  power.  That  sup- 
plied, there  are  to  be  found  in  abundance  in  China  the 
capacity  to  carry  out,  the  brains  to  plan,  the  hands  to  work." 

I  do  not,  of  course,  mean  that  the  Chinese  are  a  perfect 
people.  Very,  very  far  from  it.  They  have  grave  faults. 
Gambling,  immorality  and  superstition  prevail  among  them, 
while  beyond  any  other  people  known  to  us  they  are  stag- 
nant, spiritually  dead,  a  nation  of  agnostics,  living  only  for 
this  world  and  ignorant  of  thoi^e  higher  levels  of  spiritual 
thought  and  life  to  which  Christianity  has  raised  whole 
classes  in  Europe  and  America.  Because  of  these  things  we 
are  attempting  to  Christianize  them.  But  at  a  time  when 
they  are  being  so  vociferously  abused  it  is  only  fair  that  we 
should  give  them  credit  for  the  good  qualities  which  they  do 
possess.  I  do  not  believe  that  Eliza  Scidmore  is  right  when 
she  says  that  ''no  one  knows,  or  ever  really  will  know,  the 
Chinese,  the  most  incomprehensible,  inscrutable,  contradict- 
ory, logical,  illogical  people  on  earth,"  They  are,  indeed, 
very  different  from  us  in  many  important  particulars.  It 
would  never  occur  to  you  to  committ  suicide  in  order  to 
spite  your  neighbor,  but  in  China  such  suicides  occur  every 
day,  because  it  is  believed  that  a  death  on  the  premises  is  a 
lasting  curse  to  the  owner,  and  so  the  Chinese  drowns  him- 
self in  his  enemy's  well,  or  takes  poison  on  his  foe's  door- 
step. That  is  odd  from  our  viewpoint,  and  there  are  many 
other  peculiarities  equally  strange  to  us.  But,  after  all,  we 
shall  get  along  best  with  the  Chinese  if  we  remember  that 
they  are  human  beings,  essentially  like  ourselves,  responsive 
to  kindness,  appreciative  of  justice  and  capable  of  moral 
transformation  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel. 

And  how  little  comparatively  we  are  doing  for  them  !  To 
say  that  there  are  fifty-eight  Protestant  boards  and  societies 
and  2,818  Protestant  foreign  missionaries  working  in  China 
is  apt  to  give  one  a  distorted  idea  of  the  real  situation,  for 
he  forgets  the  immensity  of  the  population.  We  call  a  sta- 
tion well  manned  when  it  has  four  families  and  two  or  three 
single  women.  But  what  are  they  among  those  swarming 
myriads  ?  I  find  that  the  proportion  of  Protestant  mission- 
aries to  the  population  which  is  commonly  quoted  needs  re- 
vision. There  is  one  to  every  142,000  souls.  But  that,  too, 
requires  modification,  for  it  counts  some  who  are  engaged  in 
forms  of  work  which  are  but  indirectly  missionary,  wives 
whose  time  and  strength  are  absorbed  by  household  cares, 
and  all  those  who  are  absent  on  account  of  ill-health  and 
furloughs,  who  alone  are  usually  about  ten  per  cent  of  the 
total  enrolment.     The  actual  working  force,  therefore,  is  far 


135 

smaller  than  the  statistics  appear  to  suggest.  "The  harvest 
truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are  few."  It  will  oppress 
me  as  long  as  I  live. 

Take,  for  example,  the  West  Shantung  Mission.  The 
force  is  smaller  by  ten  than  it  was  a  decade  ago.  Unlike 
many  of  our  other  China  stations,  too,  we  cannot  divide  our 
responsibility  with  any  other  Board.  At  every  station  we 
occupy  the  field  alone,  so  that  those  people  must  hear  the 
Gospel  from  us,  if  they  ever  hear  it  at  all.  How  are  we  dis- 
charging our  responsibility  ?  Ichowfu,  a  prefectural  city  of 
60,000,  with  an  adjacent  population  estimated  at  6,000,000, 
has  only  three  families  and  one  single  woman. 

Chiningchow  is  an  important  commercial  center,  and 
within  a  convenient  itinerating  radius  of  fifty  miles  north  and 
east  and  eighty  miles  south  and  west  live  5,000,000  souls. 
Yet  the  present  force  consists  of  three  men  and  one  wife.  Ex- 
cluding a  couple  of  missionaries  of  the  Gospel  Mission  who 
are  there  temporarily,  the  nearest  Protestant  missionaries  are 
two  Episcopalians,  seventy-five  miles  north,  our  Ichowfu  sta- 
tion one  hundred  and  forty-five  miles  east,  two  Southern 
Presbyterians,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  south,  and  on 
the  west  no  one  for  many  hundreds  of  miles. 

Chinanfu,  the  capital  of  the  province,  is  a  fine  city  of 
300,000  inhabitants.  Though  we  have  had  a  station  there  for 
thirty  years,  there  is  now  no  regular  missionary  work  being 
done  in  all  that  city,  save  as  our  physicians  reach  those  who 
come  to  the  dispensaries.  There  was  formerly  considerable 
preaching  done,  but  the  force  has  dwindled  to  two  physicians 
and  two  ordained  men,  and  one  of  them  must  give  his  whole 
strength  to  shepherding  the  outstation  churches  north  and 
northwest  of  the  city,  and  the  other  is  equally  burdened  with 
the  care  of  the  country  work  south  and  southwest.  They  can 
can  devote  no  time  to  Chinanfu's  300,000,  unless  they  neglect 
ten  times  that  number  in  the  country.  So  our  city  chapel  is 
rented  as  a  post  oflfice,  and  the  dust  and  rats  had  full  sway  in 
the  adjacent  house  till  Dr.  Hayes  went  to  Chinanfu  for  the 
Provincial  College,  and  voluntarily  began  a  Sunday  afternoon 
service.  The  English  Baptists  work  the  field  eastward,  but  the 
city  itself  and  the  densely  populated  region  north,  west  and 
south  are  exclusively  ours. 

Wei  Hsien  is  a  thriving  business  city  of  100,000.  Nine- 
teen years  we  have  had  a  station  here,  but  when  I  asked  the 
missionaries  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  meet  the  Christ- 
ians, they  replied  that  they  had  little  work  in  the  city,  and 
that  there  were  very  few  Christians  in  it.  Practically  all  the 
work  of  this,  our  largest  station  in  North  China,  is  in  the 
country.  Within  a  radius  of  eighty  miles  there  are  124  out- 
stations  and  3,000  communicants.     And  yet  there  are  thous. 


136 

ands  of  villages  in  this  field  which  are  still  unreached,  for 
here  also  the  population  in  our  itinerating  radius  aggregates 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  6,000,000.  And  for  all  this  mighty  host 
we  have,  besides  the  medical  man  and  woman,  but  three 
families  and  two  single  women.  Yet  we  count  Wei  Hsien 
our  most  fully  manned  station ! 

There  are  few  other  Protestant  boards  at  work  at  Shan- 
tung, and  their  work,  except  at  Tengchow  and  Tsingtau,  is 
on  the  coast  in  regions  wholly  distinct  from  ours,  for  this  one 
province  has  almost  half  as  many  inhabitants  as  the  entire 
United  States.  It  is  the  holy  land  of  China,  the  home  of  the 
great  Confucius,  the  center  of  some  of  the  most  powerful  in- 
fluences in  the  empire.  The  people,  unlike  the  Chinese  whom 
we  see  in  America,  are  tall  and  robust,  the  best  type  of  the 
Chinese,  both  physically  and  mentally.  In  this  magnificent 
field  God  has  given  us  a  position  of  commanding  ascendency 
as  compared  with  other  denominations.  We  occupy  the 
strategic  cities.  We  have  the  bulk  of  the  population.  We 
have  by  far  the  largest  number  of  churches  and  schools,  and 
our  missionaries,^  few  as  they  are,  are,  nevertheless,  more 
numerous  than  those  of  any  other  Board,  and  are  recognized 
leaders  in  all  Christian  work. 

The  tendency  of  the  Mission  has  been  to  develop  work 
in  the  villages  rather  than  in  the  cities.  I  would  not  dimin- 
ish its  efforts  in  this  direction.  We  are  not  working  a  fifti- 
eth part  of  the  territory  which  we  are  supposed  to  occupy. 
Practically  the  entire  Province  is  one  vast,  highly  cultivated 
field,  thickly  dotted  with  villages,  most  of  which  in  America 
would  ambitiously  call  themselves  cities.  Save  for  occa- 
sional small  groves  which  mark  the  graves  of  prominent  fam- 
ilies, trees  are  allowed  to  grow  only  in  the  towns,  the  space 
in  the  fields  being  too  valuable  for  them.  Very  beautiful 
those  masses  of  green  foliage  appear  to  the  dusty  traveler. 
There  are  always  a  dozen,  and  often  scores  in  sight,  and  I 
knew  that  under  every  one  clustered  thickly  the  low  mud  and 
stone  walls  of  human  beings  who  had  never  heard  of  Christ. 
One  morning  as  we  crossed  a  ridge  I  counted  thirty-one 
populous  villages  in  front  of  me  and  as  many  more  were  in 
sight  behind.  And  Dr.  Johnson,  who  was  wnth  me,  said  that, 
so  far  as  he  knew,  there  was  not  one  soul  of  all  those  teem- 
ing, toiling  myriads  who  knew  Jesus.  Nor  w^as  there  any 
one  who  could  tell  them.  The  only  missionaries  in  that 
region  are  two  of  our  own,  but  there  are  many  hundreds  of 
other  villages  nearer  them  than  these.  All  over  the  Prov- 
ince there  are  literally  thousands  of  villages  which  have 
not  yet  been  touched  by  the  Gospel.  As  one  looks  upon 
them  he  enters  into  the  spirit  of  Christ,  who,  "when  He  saw 
the  multitudes  was  moved  with  compassion  for  them  because 


137 

they  were  distressed  and  scattered,  as  sheep  not  having  a 
shepherd." 

It  is  natural  that  the  missionaries  should  place  emphasis 
upon  this  village  work,  for  the  respectable  middle  class 
farmers  and  merchants,  who  form  the  greater  part  of  the 
village  population,  are  more  open  to  the  Gospel.  Life  is 
simpler,  temptations  fewer,  distractions  smaller,  faith  easier 
than  in  the  cities,  where  worldliness  and  vice  and  heathenism 
and  race  prejudice  are  often  fiercely  intensified.  It  is  harder 
to  make  an  impression  on  a  great  city  than  on  a  small  town. 
There  is  a  larger  mass  of  hostile  or  indifferent  public  opinion 
to  be  faced  by  the  individual  convert,  while  it  is  far  more 
difficult  for  him  to  observe  the  Sabbath.  Of  course,  this  is 
the  history  of  Christian  work  the  world  over,  at  home  as  well 
as  abroad.  But  on  the  foreign  field  the  eagerness  to  obtain 
visible  results,  the  pressure  from  the  home  churches  to  re- 
port conversions,  the  greater  willingness  of  the  villagers  to 
hear  the  gospel,  the  frequently  remarkable  way  in  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  has  moved  upon  villages,  and  the  inexorable 
fact  that  workers  have  been  too  few  to  preach  everywhere, 
have  combined  to  lead  the  missionaries  away  from  the  cen- 
ters. For  this  wide  itineration  the  Mission  deserves  great 
credit.  It  involves  separation  from  the  family,  and  often 
much  physical  hardship.  Those  who  have  been  doing  it 
should  be  encouraged  to  continue  it,  and  their  number  should 
be  increased. 

But  I  strongly  feel  that  the  Board  should  give  each  station 
such  a  force  that,  without  diminishing  its  country  work,  it 
could  more  eiTectively  work  the  cities.  Stations  at  Chinanfu 
and  Wei  Hsien,  for  example,  ought  to  mean  regular  preach- 
ing and  aggressive  work  in  those  powerful  towns,  as  well  as 
in  their  tributary  villages.  I  know  that  the  diiificulties  are 
great.  They  always  have  been.  But  the  city  dominates  the 
country  now  as  much  as  it  did  in  Paul's  time,  and  in  China 
as  much  as  in  America.  If  we  are  to  evangelize  Shantung 
we  must  not  neglect  the  centers  of  its  life.  The  Roman 
Catholics  entrench  themselves  in  cities,  and,  while  we  would 
not  imitate  their  cathedrals  or  many  of  their  methods,  we 
may  at  least  recognize  their  wisdom  in  this  respect. 

Some  missionaries  tell  me  that  street  chapel  preaching 
does  not  pay.  But  Dr.  Corbett,  after  thirty  years'  experience 
in  it,  emphatically  declares  that  it  does.  It  must  have  the 
right  kind  of  a  preacher,  alert,  sympathetic,  fervent,  ready  in 
extemporaneous  address.  It  must  be  followed  up  by  diligent 
house-to-house  work,  and  by  free  itineration.  Comparatively 
few  men  will  be  converted  at  the  chapel,  but  prejudices  will 
be  removed,  hearts  softened,  and  thoughts  of  God  aroused. 
Hearers  are  often  visitors  from  the  country,  and  months  after- 


138 

ward  the  preacher  visiting  some  distant  village,  will  be  wel- 
comed by  some  man  who  first  heard  the  Gospel  at  the  city 
street  chapel,  and  through  that  man  the  missionary  will  se- 
cure a  foothold  in  the  community.  Repeatedly  it  has  hap- 
pened that  work  has  suddenly  sprung  up  in  some  village  fifty 
or  more  miles  away,  and  the  missionary  has  been  at  a  loss 
to  understand  why  that  particular  village,  rather  than  scores 
of  nearer  ones,  should  yield  such  fruit,  till  he  finds  that  the 
leading  spirits  received  the  Word  in  the  city  chapel.  Men 
like  Dr.  Corbett  could  cite  scores  of  illustrations  of  this. 

But  city  work  need  not  be  exclusively  street  chapel 
preaching.  There  are  many  ways,  such  as  following  to  their 
homes  school  children  and  dispensary  patients,  personal  work 
with  individual  acquaintances,  etc.  Miss  West  and  Mrs. 
MacNair  are  effectively  reaching  some  of  the  most  influential 
families  in  Tokio  in  this  latter  way.  There  are  methods 
enough,  and  the  missionaries  of  China  are  finding  them 
wherever  they  have  the  available  force,  and  they  will  find 
them  in  West  Shantung  if  we  can  give  them  the  requisite 
reinforcement. 

THE  FOUR  PRESENT  FORMS  OF  MISSIONARY  WORK 

Appear  to  be  adequate,  namely,  the  evangelistic,  the  educa- 
tional, the  medical  and  the  literary. 

Presbyterian  missionaries  have  not  given  such  propor- 
tionate emphasis  to  direct  evangelistic  work  as  the  mission- 
aries of  some  other  boards,  notably  those  of  the  China  Inland 
Misssion.  But  the  results  show  that,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  missionaries  employed  and  in  the  stability  and 
spirituality  of  the  native  church,  our  work  is  exceeded  by  no 
other  work  in  China.  And  yet  it  would  be  well  if  still  greater 
emphasis  could  be  given  to  this  form  of  missionary  activity. 
China  needs  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel — not  in  any  narrow 
or  technical  sense,  but  in  broad  scriptural  proportions.  Some 
missionaries  tell  me  that  comparatively  few  Chinese  are  con- 
verted by  the  foreigner,  and  that  the  main  dependence  in  this 
form  of  the  work  must  be  upon  the  native  pastors  and 
evangelists.  I  fear  that  this  fact  sometimes  unduly  weakens 
the  missionary's  sense  of  responsibility  for  personal  effort 
for  souls.  But,  manifestly,  we  cannot  send  over  mission- 
aries enough  to  adequately  preach  the  gospel  to  each  one  of 
the  four  hundred  millions  of  the  Chinese.  The  great  future 
work  of  evangelization  must  be  carried  on  by  the  Chinese 
Christians  themselves.  To  this  end,  missionaries  must  train 
up  a  native  ministry. 

Both  in  China  and  Japan,  some  missionaries  of  our  own 
and  other  churches  expressed  a  fear  that  the  boards  have  com- 


139 

mitted  themselves  to  an  extreme  and  impracticable  theory 
of  self-support,  and  that,  in  harmony  with  this  theory,  it  is 
the  policy  of  the  boards  to  undervalue  educational  work,  and 
to  refuse  appropriations  for  native  helpers.  When,  in  my 
interdenominational  conference  in  Peking,  I  asked:  "What 
modifications  in  the  policy  of  the  boards  do  you  think  should 
be  made?"  Dr.  Sheffield,  of  the  American  Board,  replied  by 
protesting  against  the  "exploiting  of  the  Nevius  method." 
When  I  asked  him  what  he  understood  by  the  Nevius 
method,  both  he  and  Dr.  Owen  of  the  London  Mission  an- 
swered :  "No  paid  native  agents  whatever."  Substantially 
the  same  answer  was  given  in  Tokio,  Kioto,  Chefoo,  Tsing- 
tau,  Shanghai  and  Canton.  It  is  unfortunate  that  an  im- 
pression prevails,  in  some  missionary  circles,  that  the  boards 
represented  in  the  joint  conference  of  the  Foreign  Missions 
Boards  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  are  committed  to 
such  a  view.  Dr.  Nevius  himself  disclaimed  it,  for  not  only 
did  he  employ  a  few  helpers  himself,  but  he  said  in  his 
"Methods  of  Mission  Work,"  page  9:  "I  fully  recognize  the 
fact  that  the  employment  and  pay  of  native  laborers  is,  under 
suitable  circumstances,  legitimate  and  desirable;  as  much  so 
as  the  employment  and  pay  of  foreigners ; "  and  again,  on 
pages  95  and  96,  he  declared:  "I  should  exceedingly  regret 
if  the  statement  just  made  or  any  other  statement  in  these 
letters  should  be  understood  or  construed  as  intimating  that 
the  use  of  money  in  carrying  on  missionary  work  is  not 
legitimate." 

The  special  merit  of  Dr.  Nevius  lies  in  the  fact  that,  at  a 
time  when  foreign  money  was  unquestionably  too  lavishly 
employed,  he  appeared  as  a  prophet  of  a  new  dispensation, 
calling  attention  to  the  dangers  which  were  involved  and  em- 
phasizing the  importance  of  educating  the  native  Christians  to 
the  duty  of  maintaining  and  extending  the  Gospel  without  ex- 
pectation of  pay  from  the  foreigner.  He  did  valuable  service 
in  urging  the  minimum  rather  than  the  maximum  use  of  funds 
and  in  counselling  greater  reliance  upon  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
the  inherent  vitality  of  the  Truth.  The  peculiar  circumstan- 
ces of  his  time  and  field  probably  led  him  to  an  extreme  which 
he  himself  might  have  modified  if  his  life  had  been  prolonged. 
His  book  as  a  permanent  guide  to  new  missionaries  is  defec- 
tive in  that  it  does  not  adequately  recognize  the  necessity  for 
the  stated  preaching  of  the  Gospel  by  a  properly  trained  minis- 
try, and  that,  with  all  due  prudence,  foreign  money  may  be  wise- 
ly employed  to  some  extent  in  attaining  that  end.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  phrase  "Nevius  method"  has  come  to  be 
used  by  many  missionaries  as  if  it  were  synonymous  only 
with  this  defect  rather  than  with  the  really  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  an  economical  and  cautious  expenditure  of  money. 


I40 

When  a  missionary  objects  to  the  "Nevius  method,"  it  is 
wise  to  ask  him  what  he  understands  by  that  method.  I  us- 
ually find  that  he  means  the  undervaluing  of  educational  work, 
hostility  to  a  settled  ministry,  and  an  absolute  refusal  to  use 
foreign  money  in  the  employment  of  native  helpers. 

But  whatever  differences  of  opinion  there  may  be  as  to 
what  Dr.  Nevius  held  and  taught,  it  is  important  that  the  po- 
sition of  the  Board  should  be  more  clearly  understood.  As 
I  understand  that  position,  it  is  that  one  of  the  primary  ob- 
jects of  missionary  work  is  to  establish  in  every  land  a  self- 
supporting,  self-propagating  and  self-governing  church. 
Christianity  is  not  to  be  exotic  but  indigenous.  If  China  is  to 
be  Christianized,  there  must  be  a  Chinese  church.  To  this 
end,  great  care  must  be  exercised  in  the  use  of  foreign  money. 
Christians  must  be  taught  from  the  beginning  that  they  should 
support  their  own  religious  institutions,  and  that  they  are  pri- 
marily responsible  for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  among 
their  countrymen.  There  is  a  legitimate  use  of  foreign 
money  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  work.  Infancy  must  be 
helped.  The  Board  should  make  such  appropriations  as  an 
equitable  distribution  of  funds  will  permit  for  the  employment 
of  native  evangelists  and  helpers.  I  do  not  believe  that  a 
native  pastor's  salary  should  ever  be  fully  paid  by  the  Mis- 
sion. Every  organized  body  of  Christians  should  contribute 
something  toward  the  support  of  their  own  work.  Indeed, 
the  rule  should  be  that  organized  churches  should  be  self-sup- 
porting. And  yet  it  will  sometimes  be  wise  for  the  Mission 
to  give  partial  support  for  a  time.  But  such  assistance  should 
be  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  it  is  temporary,  and 
that  the  congregation  will  be  expected  to  attain  self-support 
at  the  earliest  practicable  opportunity. 

As  far  as  possible,  too,  native  evangelists  and  helpers 
working  among  the  heathen  should  be  supported  by  the  native 
churches.  Every  congregation  should  be  made  to  feel  its  re- 
sponsibility for  the  evangelization  of  the  neighboring  villages, 
and  should  assist  in  sending  out  men  for  that  purpose.  How- 
ever, for  a  time  at  least,  the  Mission  must  provide  a  consid- 
erable proportion  of  the  cost  of  such  work.  But  such  helpers 
should  be  as  few  as  practicable.  Their  salaries  should  be 
those  which  will  enable  them  to  live  on  or  near  the  plane  of 
their  community  and  which  will  be  approved  by  their  people. 
They  should  not  be  allowed  to  get  the  impression  that  em- 
ployment by  the  mission  is  their  right,  or  that  it  is  to  be  per- 
manent, but,  on  the  contrary,  they  should  understand  from 
the  outset  that  employment  at  the  expense  of  mission  funds 
is  temporary,  and  that  the  expectation  of  increase  in  salary 
and  of  permanent  support  should  be  toward  their  own  people 
and  not  toward  the  Board.     There  must,  of  course,  be  due  re- 


141 

gard  to  local  conditions,  particularly  in  missions  where  the  op- 
posite policy  was  long  pursued.  Neither  the  missionary  nor 
the  Board  should  suddenly  or  violently  revolutionize  in  this 
matter.  Self-support  cannot  be  attained  by  immediately  dis- 
charging all  native  helpers,  or  by  so  reducing  the  work  that 
nothing  will  be  left  to  support.  Change  must  be  gradual, 
and  must  be  brought  about  by  a  due  recognition  of  the  de- 
pendence of  the  Oriental,  his  poverty,  his  willingness  to  be 
helped,  and  the  tendency  of  human  nature  to  move  along  the 
line  of  least  resistance  by  paying  out  money  furnished  by  the 
Board.  The  missionary  should,  therefore,  kindly  and  wisely, 
but  firmly  and  persistently,  keep  pressure  on  the  Chinese 
Christians. 

From  this  viewpoint,  I  have  been  very  much  gratified  by 
the  efforts  which  many  of  our  missionaries  are  already  mak- 
ing in  these  directions.  They  are  pressing  the  policy  of  the 
self-support  of  the  native  church  with  wisdom  and  energy. 
For  example,  in  the  large  Wei  Hsien  Station  in  the  West 
Shantung  Mission  the  Missionaries  insist  that  "as  rapidly  as 
possible  the  Chinese  shall  support  their  own  church  work  and 
primary  schools  and  shall  help  as  far  as  practicable  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  higher  schools.  The  churches  shall  support  their 
ministry.  A  church  shall  not  be  organized  until  there  are 
enough  reliable  members  to  assure  material  for  elders  and 
deacons,  such  organization  looking  toward  a  more  complete 
control  of  local  affairs  than  a  state  of  unorganization  admits 
and  opening  the  way  to  the  support  of  an  evangelist  and  ul- 
timately of  a  pastor  by  their  own  efforts.  The  object  is  a 
church  organized  with  its  own  elders  and  deacons  and  sup- 
porting its  own  pastor  and  congregational  expenses,  and  to 
this  end,  steady  pressure  is  put  upon  the  Christians  both  be- 
fore and  after  organization  to  give  as  they  are  able."  So 
far  as  I  can  judge,  most  of  our  missionaries  appreciate  the 
necessity  for  bringing  the  native  churches  and  schools  to 
self-support  and  they  are  earnestly  striving  to  do  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  missionaries  in  China  who, 
whatever  their  theories  may  be,  are  not  practically  press- 
ing self-support  as  much  as  they  ought,  and  are  yielding 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  to  the  temptation  to  use  money 
with  a  freedom  which  their  colleagues  frankly  deprecate. 

My  conferences  with  some  of  the  Chinese  pastors  and  el- 
ders, moreover,  clearly  showed  that,  in  spite  of  all  that  has 
been  said  and  done  by  the  missionaries  and  the  Board,  the 
native  Christians  do  not  yet  clearly  recognize  their  obligation 
to  support  their  own  work.  This  was  particularly  noticeable 
in  my  conference  with  the  officers  and  leading  members  of 
the  Chinese  churches  in  Shanghai.  We  spent  four  hours  in  de- 
lightful and  profitable  intercourse.     Addresses  were  made  by 


four  pastors,  three  elders  and  one  deacon.  I  had  previously- 
sent  word  to  the  Chinese  brethren  that  I  should  like  to  have 
them  present  with  freedom  any  subjects  which  were  in  their 
hearts.  Among  the  topics  upon  which  they  spoke  were:  "A 
New  Church  Building  for  Hongkew,"  More  Preachers  for 
China,"  Enlargement  of  Educational  Work,"  and  "The 
Need  of  Increased  Salaries  for  Native  Preachers."  The  un- 
dercurrent of  all  these  addresses,  as  of  several  others,  was 
plainly  financial  expectation  from  the  Board.  I  listened  care- 
fully but  vainly  for  an  indication  that  these  excellent  brethren 
had  realization  of  the  responsibility  of  the  Chinese  churches 
themselves  to  relieve  the  Board  of  the  burden  of  their  sup- 
port. Their  idea  appeared  to  be  that  the  way  to  get  more 
native  preachers  for  China  was  for  the  Board  to  educate  them 
and  pay  them  ;  the  way  to  enlarge  the  educational  work  was 
for  the  Board  to  supply  the  funds  ;  the  increase  in  the  cost  of 
living  was  to  be  met  by  increased  appropriations  from  New 
York,  etc.,  though  the  pastor  of  the  Hongkew  church  said 
that  the  people  would  only  ask  the  Board  for  the  land,  the 
people  themselves  erecting  the  edifice.  The  trend  of  their 
remarks  was  the  more  significant  because  seven  of  the  eight 
speakers  were  graduates  of  our  Hangchow  and  South  Gate 
Schools.  I  was  impressed  by  their  intelligence  and  devotion. 
They  were  evidently  men  of  more  than  ordinary  worth  of  char- 
acter. I  knew  that  the  Central  China  Missionjiad  been  faithful 
in  its  inculcation  of  self-support.  I  did  not,  therefore,  at  the 
time,  and  I  do  not  now  feel  that  any  just  criticism  should  lie 
against  the  missionaries.  Rather  did  the  evening  tend  to 
show  the  difficulty  of  convincing  the  Chinese  that  Christian- 
ity is  not  the  foreigner's  religion  ;  that  they  do  not  become 
the  followers  of  the  foreigner  in  espousing  it,  and  that  the 
foreigner  is  not  permanently  responsible  for  supporting  their 
religious  institutions.  Evidently  weary  years  must  yet  be 
spent  in  persuading  the  Chinese  not  to  look  so  steadfastly  to 
the  Board  for  financial  assistance,  not  to  expect  that  every 
increased  expense  must  come  from  New  York,  but  that, 
while  American  Christians  will  continue  to  aid  them,  and 
count  it  a  privilege  to  do  so,  yet,  if  China  is  to  be  evangelized, 
the  responsibility  must  be  more  largely  assumed  by  the 
Chinese  Christians  themselves. 

In  educational  and  medical  work,  our  buildings  are  not 
architecturally  so  elaborate  as  those  of  some  other  Boards. 
Indeed,  I  have  sometimes  felt  that  our  structures  are  almost 
cheap  in  comparison.  But  in  the  quality  of  work  done,  we 
stand  in  the  very  front  rank.  I  have  repeatedly  heard  mis- 
sionaries of  other  boards  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of  our 
institutions.  I  have  already  discussed  the  needs  of  Teng- 
chow  College,  and  there  are  boarding  schools  which   should 


143 

also  be  strengthened.  While  we  must  guard  against  spend- 
ing a  disproportionate  amount  of  strength  and  money  upon 
educational  work,  and  while  we  should  steadfastly  refuse  to 
weaken  the  evangelistic  work  in  the  interest  of  the  institu- 
tional, we  should,  nevertheless,  realize  that  the  time  has  come 
in  China  for  developing  Christian  schools,  and  that  their  in- 
fluence will  be  incomparably  greater  in  the  future  than  it  has 
been  in  the  past.  We  cannot  ignore  this  demand  if  we  ex- 
pect Christianity  to  vitally  influence  this  great  Empire. 

In  literary  work,  also,  our  missionaries  are  second  to 
none.  In  conversing  with  men  of  other  boards,  I  have  fre- 
quently heard  warmly  appreciative  testimony  to  the  scholar- 
ship and  ability  of  Presbyterian  missionaries.  Any  interde- 
nominational committee  on  a  literary  or  educational  matter 
is  certain  to  include  Presbyterians,  while  frequently  we  furnish 
the  chairman.  The  fame  of  some  of  our  missionaries  in  this 
respect  is  deservedly  great  in  China. 

This  is  a  phase  of  missionary  effort  upon  which  even 
greater  emphasis  should  now  be  laid.  I  feel  more  strongly 
than  ever  the  vital  necessity  of  the  direct  preaching  of  the 
Gospel.  Nothing  can  possibly  take  the  place  of  that.  And 
yet  we  have  not,  perhaps,  sufficiently  realized  that  the  Chinese 
are  a  nation  of  writers  rather  than  speakers.  They  are  not 
so  much  accustomed  as  Western  nations  to  public  discourse. 
The  priests  of  the  native  religions  do  not  preach.  The  presen- 
tation of  truth  in  oral  discourse  is  something  that  is  compar- 
atively new  and  strange  in  China,  and  it  is  much  more  diffi- 
cult to  influence  people  in  that  w^ay  than  it  is  in  England  and 
America.  The  Chinese  are  pre-eminently  a  people  of  books. 
Buddhism  converted  them,  not  by  preaching,  but  by  litera- 
ture. Above  all  other  nations  they  exalt  learning.  The 
printed  essay,  the  distributed  pamphlet,  the  proclamation 
posted  on  the  wall,  are  the  common  means  of  disseminating 
ideas.  If  Christianity  is  to  supersede  Buddhism  and  Con- 
fucianism, it  must  make  a  larger  use  of  this  method  of 
promulgating  Scripture  truth. 

This  does  not  mean  that  every  missionary  should  turn 
from  other  work  to  prepare  books  and  tracts.  Abroad  as 
well  as  at  home,  comparatively  few  men  are  fitted  for  this 
work,  and  comparatively  few  are  required  for  it.  The  mis- 
sions should  be  more  insistent  than  ever  that  no  one  should 
be  allowed  to  sacrifice  assigned  missionary  work  to  literary 
efl^orts  without  the  express  approval  of  the  mission.  In  this 
connection  it  should  be  noted  that  the  "  Society  for  the  Dif- 
fusion of  Christian  and  General  Knowledge  Among  the 
Chinese  "  is  doing  much  to  widen  the  intellectual  horizon  of 
the  Chinese  and  to  prepare  their  minds  for  the  reception  of 
the  Gospel. 


144 

Under  the  general  subject  of  literary  work  falls  our  Mis- 
sion Press  in  Shanghai.  It  is  a  magnificent  institution.  I 
have  been  at  some  pains  not  only  to  personally  examine  it 
and  to  confer  with  Mr.  Fitch  and  his  associates,  but  to  make 
inquiries  regarding  it  of  missionaries  of  other  boards,  nota- 
bly the  agents  of  the  Bible  Societies.  The  testimony  is  unani- 
mous that  the  Press  does  the  best  work  in  China,  and  that  its 
influence  for  good  is  mighty  as  it  is  far-reaching.  Its  annual 
output  for  the  year  exceeds  a  million  and  a  quarter  copies, 
comprising  about  seventy  million  pages. 

In  addition  to  this  publishing  work,  there  is  a  large  and 
rapidly  growing  supply  trade  in  printing  paper,  stationery, 
ink,  books,  magazines,  blank  books,  type-casting,  stereotypes, 
school  supplies,  etc.  These  are  sent  to  all  parts  of  China 
and  to  Korea.  Other  denominational  presses  in  China,  such 
as  the  Methodist  Press  in  Foo  Chow,  obtain  their  supplies 
largely  at  our  Press,  while  it  is  the  general  depository  of  the 
Chinese  Tract  Society,  the  Diffusion  Society  and  the  Educa- 
tional Association  of  China. 

At  the  last  rendering  of  account,  the  Press  had  in  godown 
books  and  tracts  of  the  Chinese  Tract  Society  to  the 
value  of  $14,176;  of  the  Educational  Association,  $14,982, 
and  of  the  Diffusion  Society,  $8,322.  Of  our  own  stock  we 
had  $42,562.  Besides  these  there  were  many  books  sent  to 
be  sold  on  commission.  The  above  sums  up  over  $80,000. 
The  ledger  balance  for  December  31st,  which  Mr.  Fitch 
showed  me,  contained  996  open  accounts,  besides  separate 
magazine  and  paper  book  accounts.  Sundry  debtors  owed 
$28,245.67,  and  sundry  creditors  called  for  $8,753.07.  Mr. 
Fitch  says  :  "  It  is  very  rare  that  we  have  to  write  off  any- 
thing as  a  bad  debt."  Besides  the  societies  above  mentioned, 
printing  was  being  done  during  my  visit  for  the  American 
Bible  Society,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  the 
American  Baptist  Mission  at  Swatow,  the  Berlin  Mission  at 
Tsingtau,  the  American  Episcopal  Mission,  both  the  Northern 
and  the  Southern  Methodist  Episcopal  Missions,  the  Christian 
Mission,  the  Medical  Missionary  Association,  the  Christian 
Endeavor  Society  of  Nagasaki,  besides  various  local  jobs. 
Three  fonts  of  Chinese  types  were  being  cast  for  Korea,  and 
a  half  font  for  the  American  Board  Mission  at  Foochow, 
while  a  font  had  just  been  finished  for  Singapore.  One  hun- 
dred and  twelve  Chinese  workmen  were  employed.  Before 
the  Boxer  outbreak  the  number  was  130. 

While  I  knew  before  I  came  to  Shanghai  that  our  plant 
was  inadequate,  I  confess  that  I  was  unprepared  for  the  nar- 
row, congested  quarters  which  I  found.  It  is  not  to  our 
credit  that  we  have  not  before  this  given  the  most  important 
mission  press  in  the  world  a  more  suitable  plant.     This  need, 


145 

however,  the  Board  has  already  met  by  advancing:  $20,000, 
gold,  as  a  "  loan  to  be  repaid  to  the  Board  out  of  the  earn- 
ings of  the  Press  within  a  period  of  ten  years."  Property  in 
that  part  of  the  foreign  settlement  where  the  Press  is  located 
has  now  become  so  expensive  that  it  is  impracticable  to  make 
the  needed  enlargement  there,  so  that  an  admirably  located 
tract  has  been  obtained  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  and  it  is 
proposed  to  transfer  to  that  site  all  the  manufacturing  part 
of  the  business,  leaving  in  the  present  quarters  the  offices, 
salesroom,  etc.  This  will  be  a  great  improvement.  The 
Press  can  now  do  its  own  binding,  which,  up  to  this  time,  it 
has  had  to  give  out  to  native  firms  at  no  small  disadvantage; 
while  the  increased  equipment  will  enable  it  to  more  ade- 
quately care  for  its  large  and  growing  business.  Up  to  this 
lime,  the  Press  has  not  been  able  to  accept  half  the  business 
that  it  might  have  had. 

The  most  serious  perplexity  in  connection  with  the  Press 
arises  from  the  competition  of  native  establishments.  This 
competition  is  partly  in  Shanghai  itself.  The  Chinese  are 
rapidly  learning  the  printer's  trade,  and  it  is  as  difficult  to 
compete  with  them  in  this  business  as  in  others.  The  manage- 
ment of  some  of  the  best  of  these  native  presses  are  former 
employees  of  our  own  Mission.  One  establishment  in  par- 
ticular, on  the  same  street  and  only  a  few  doors  away,  is 
under  the  management  of  native  Christians.  Their  relation 
to  our  Press  is  very  friendly.  Our  missionaries  are  naturally, 
glad  to  find  that  the  native  Christians  are  manifesting  such 
energy,  self-reliance  and  skill  in  business  matters,  and  as  the 
years  pass,  we  must  expect  increasing  competition  of  this 
kind.  Thus  far,  the  Chinese  establishments  do  not  equal  our 
Press  in  the  grade  of  work,  but  in  this  respect  also  they  will 
probably  improve. 

The  most  serious  competition,  however,  is  with  Japan. 
The  agents  of  the  British  and  Foreign  and  the  American 
Bible  Societies  informed  me  that,  while  they  would  be  glad 
to  give  a  larger  part  of  their  work  to  our  Press,  we  have  not, 
thus  far,  been  able  to  do  it.  The  output  of  each  of  those 
societies  far  exceeds  the  total  of  our  Press.  Moreover,  the 
Bible  Society  agents  find  that,  even  after  paying  transporta- 
tion charges  both  ways,  they  can  get  their  work  done  in  Japan 
very  much  cheaper  than  our  Press  can  do  it  in  Shanghai. 
Dr.  Hykes  says  that  the  saving  is  sometimes  as  much  as 
one-half.  Of  course,  the  Bible  Societies  feel  obliged  to  take 
advantage  of  such  a  saving. 

I  find  that  our  Press  is  not  peculiar  in  this  respect  among 
the  presses  of  China.  No  press,  native  or  foreign,  in  Shang- 
hai or  in  any  other  Chinese  city,  is  able  to  compete  with  the 
Japanese  presses.     The  Japanese  are  quicker  and  more  adept 


146 

in  mechanical  work  than  the  Chinese.  The  printing  establish- 
ments in  Japan  are  on  a  larger  plan,  a  few  of  them  being 
among  the  very  largest  in  the  world,  and  by  doing  their 
work  on  so  extensive  a  scale  and  by  the  use  of  the  very  best 
and  most  carefully  selected  foreign  machinery,  they  are  able 
to  underbid  Chinese  establishments  in  much  the  same  way 
that  a  trust  in  America  can  obtain  advantages  over  lesser 
plants.  Moreover,  the  Japanese  employers  use  child  labor, 
put  men  over  them  as  guards  are  placed  over  convicts  in  a 
penitentiary  workshop,  pay  starvation  wages,  and  force  an 
amount  of  work  out  of  their  employees  that  Christian  mission- 
aries cannot  conscientiously  imitate.  It  is  difficult,  therefore, 
to  see  how  this  competition  can  be  successfully  met,  though 
it  is  probable  that  the  rapid  rise  of  wages  in  Japan  will  in 
time  partially  equalize  the  difference,  as  wages  in  Shanghai' 
are  believed  to  be  about  as  high  as  they  are  likely  to  become. 
However,  a  large  amount  of  work,  particularly  of  the 
higher  grades,  will  always  have  to  be  done  in  Shanghai.  As 
no  other  establishment  can  compete  with  ours  in  the  quality 
of  the  work  done,  as  we  are  now  about  to  do  our  own  bind- 
ing as  well  as  our  own  printing,  as  the  new  plant  will  give 
increased  facilities,  and  as  there  is  the  large  and  rapidly 
growing  supply  trade  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  it  is 
probable  that  our  Press  will  always  have  all  the  work  that  it 
can  possibly  do.  Though  we  shall  continue  to  lose  some 
printing  on  account  of  the  competition  of  Japanese  and 
Chinese  presses,  our  Press  will  be  in  the  coming  days,  as  it 
has  been  in  the  past,  an  increasing  powder  in  the  dissemination 
of  Christian  literature.  I  do  not  believe,  therefore,  that  we 
have  any  reason  to  fear  for  its  future. 

THE  OUTLOOK. 

I  have  discussed  this  subject  with  all  the  foreigners  I 
have  met,  and  with  many  Chinese  oificials.  The  latter,  in 
every  case,  suavely  assured  me  that  there  would  be  no  further 
trouble.  It  would  not  be  wise  to  presume  too  far  upon  such 
promises.  I  attach  more  weight,  however,  to  the  words  of 
Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai.  He  is  probably  the  ablest  and 
most  reliable  high  Chinese  official  in  the  empire.  His  power 
is  great,  and  he  has  shown  himself  friendly  to  missionaries 
in  such  effective  ways  that  it  would  be  ungracious  to  doubt 
him.  He  personally  told  me  that  foreigners  would  be  safe 
in  Shantung  as  long  as  he  controlled  it.  He  has  written  to 
the  missionaries  :  "I  purpose  hereafter  to  have  lasting  peace. 
*  *  *  Everywhere  it  is  now  quiet.  The  missionaries  of 
France,  Germany  and  other  nations  have  returned  to  the 
interior  to  preach  as  formerly.  If  you  reverend  sirs,  wish  to 
return  to  the  interior  I  would  beg  you  first    give    me    word 


147 

that  I  may  most  certainly  order  the  military  everywhere  to 
most  carefully  protect  and  escort." 

Not  content  with  this,  he  has  widely  published  the  follow- 
ing regulations  for  the  warning  and  instruction  of  the  Chinese: 

"  1.  In  order  to  protect  foreigners  from  violence  and  all 
mission  property  from  burning  and  other  destruction,  all  civil 
and  military  oiiticials  with  all  their  subordinates  (including 
literati,  constables,  village  elders,  et  al.),  must  use  their 
utmost  endeavors  to  nisure  their  protection.  Persons  refus- 
ing to  submit  to  oilficials  in  these  matters  may  be  instantly 
executed  without  further  reference  to  the  Governor,  and  any 
one  who  rescues  foreigners  from  violence  will  be  amply 
rewarded. 

"  2.  Any  persons  having  been  found  guilty  of  destroying 
mission  property  or  using  violence  to  foreigners  shall  be 
severely  dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  which  refer  to 
highway  robbers,  and  in  addition  to  this  their  goods  and 
property  shall  be  confiscated  for  the  public  use. 

"  3.  Whoever  succeeds  in  capturing  and  delivering  to  the 
officials  a  ringleader  in  these  anti-foreign  gangs  shall  receive 
a  reward  of  200  taels  ($150),  the  same  reward  to  be  given 
to  any  one  capturing  five  of  the  ordinary  offenders.  To 
furnish  accurate  informarion  leading  to  the  capture  of  a  ring- 
leader entitles  the  informer  to  100  taels. 

"4.  Whenever  a  missionary  is  traveling  through  the 
country  the  civil  officials,  whether  previously  informed  or 
not,  conjointly  with  the  military  officials,  must  carefully 
protect  and  escort  him  stage  by  stage,  and  by  no  means 
excuse  themselves  from  fulfilling  these  obligations. 

"5.  If  injury  to  missionaries  or  destruction  of  property 
occurs"  in  any  district  whatever,  both  civil  and  military 
officials  of  said  district  shall  be  degraded  and  reported  to 
the  throne. 

"6.  The  elders,  constables,  et  al.,  of  every  village  shall 
do  their  utmost  to  protect  missionaries  and  their  property. 
If  in  the  future  there  occurs  in  any  village  destruction  of 
property  or  violence  to  a  missionary,  the  headmen  of  such 
village  shall  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  edict  issued 
during  the  twenty-second  year  of  the  present  Emperor.  And, 
in  addition  to  this,  they  shall  be  required  to  present  them- 
selves to  the  yamen  and  make  good  all  losses.  The  consta- 
bles of  such  villages  shall  be  severely  dealt  with  and  expell- 
ed from  office  forever. 

"7.  In  case  of  an  off'ender  in  matters  above  mentioned 
concealing  himself  in  a  village,  whether  his  native  or  neigh- 
boring village,  the  elders  and  constables  of  such  village  shall 
be  dealt  with  according  to  the  law  regulating  the  conceal- 
ment of  robbers  ;  and  in   case  such   offender  escapes  from 


148 

said  village  these  constables,  et  al.,  shall  be  imprisoned  until 
the  offender  is  delivered  to  justice. 

"  8.  All  civil  and  military  officials  in  whose  districts  none 
of  these  offences  named  above  occur  in  one  year,  shall  be 
rewarded  with  the  third  degree  of  merit,  and  three  years  of 
such  freedom  shall  entitle  the  same  officials  to  promotion. 

"  9.  Rewards  will  also  be  given  to  village  elders  and 
constables  in  whose  district  no  disturbance  occurs.  For  one 
year's  freedom  from  such  disturbances  they  shall  receive 
rewards  to  be  determined  by  their  local  officials,  and  for  three 
years'  such  merit  they  shall  receive  a  tablet  of  merit  and  a 
button. 

"10.  All  who  unknowingly  acquired  goods  stolen  from 
mission  premises  are  advised  to  return  the  same  at  once 
to  the  local  official  in  order  to  avoid  further  trouble ;  but 
those  who  knowingly  procure  such  and  refuse  to  return  them 
shall  be  dealt  with  even  more  severely  than  those  who  or- 
dinarily acquire  stolen  property  from  thieves." 

But  while  foreigners  have  just  confidence  in  the  great 
Governor  of  Shantung,  they  say  that  there  is  no  certainty  of 
his  long  continuance  in  his  present  post,  and  that  one  official, 
however  powerful,  cannot  control  national  conditions.  Since 
this  Report  was  first  written,  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai  has 
been  appointed  Viceroy  of  Chihli,  in  succession  to  Li  Hung 
Ghang,  a  merited  honor,  which,  though  it  removes  him  from 
Shantung,  increases  his  power. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  that  the  Chinese  have  learned 
little  from  recent  events  except  bitter  hatred  of  the  alien. 
Only  one  province,  Chihli,  has  felt  the  vengeance  of  the 
foreigner.  There  the  punishment  has  been  severe.  The 
Tientsin  Tao-tai  has  been  beheaded,  the  city  wall  has  been 
razed  to  the  ground  and  a  roadway  made  where  it  stood — an 
unspeakable  humiliation  to  the  proud  commercial  metropolis. 
The  Japanese  soldiers  tease  the  citizens  by  telling  them  that 
"a  city  without  a  wall  is  like  a  woman  without  clothes,"  and 
the  people  keenly  feel  the  shame  implied  in  the  taunt. 

In  Paotingfu  the  Provincial  Treasurer,  the  Manchu  Com- 
mandant and  the  Colonel  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Regiment 
stationed  there  have  been  beheaded.  The  splendid  official 
temple  of  the  patron  deity  of  the  city  has  been  demolished, 
and  all  the  gate  and  wall  towers,  save  two  small  ones,  have 
been  blown  up. 

In  Peking  the  ruin  is  pitiable.  True,  the  city,  as  a  whole, 
is  not  as  badly  injured  as  I  had  expected  to  find  it,  but  the 
ravages  of  war  are  evident  enough.  Wrecked  shops,  crum- 
bled houses,  shell-pierced  walls  are  painfully  numerous, 
while  the  most  sacred  places  to  a  Chinese  and  a  Manchu  have 
been  profaned.     At  other  times  the  Purple  Forbidden  City, 


149 

the  Winter  and  Summer  Palaces,  the  Temple  of  Heaven  and 
kindred  Imperial  enclosures  are  inaccessible  to  the  foreigner. 
But  an  easily  secured  pass  from  the  military  authorities 
opened  to  us  every  door.  We  walked  freely  through  all  the 
spacious  grounds  and  into  all  the  famous  buildings — the 
throne  rooms  which  the  highest  Chinese  official  can  approach 
only  upon  his  knees  and  with  his  face  abjectly  on  the  stone 
pavement — the  private  apartments  of  the  Emperor  and  the 
Empress  Dowager,  which,  by  the  way,  are  not  as  comfortable 
as  those  of  many  a  moderately  wealthy  American,  and  the 
great  circular  altar  of  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  where  the 
Emperor  worships  alone  and  in  solemn  state  at  the  winter 
solstice.  Because  Viceroy  Li  Hung  Chang  secured  permission 
for  General  Grant  to  visit  this  venerated  sanctuary,  when  the 
great  warrior  was  in  Peking  during  his  tour  around  the 
world,  the  people  raised  a  furious  clamor.  But  while  I  calm- 
ly photographed  the  sacred  places,  a  regiment  of  British 
Sikhs  lounged  under  the  ancient  trees,  picketed  cavalry 
horses  nibbled  the  uncut  grass  and  clumsy  quartermaster's 
carts  stood  in  long  rows  bej^ond. 

The  vandalism  of  the  conquerors  has  been  shameful.  It 
was,  of  course,  inevitable  that  much  havoc  should  have  been 
wrought  by  the  fighting  and  the  fires.  It  was  necessary  that 
supplies  for  half-naked  and  famished  besieged  thousands 
should  be  taken  from  deserted  grain  and  clothing  shops.  It 
was  expedient  that  certain  public  buildings  should  be  de- 
stroyed by  order  of  the  allied  generals  as  a  warning  for  the 
future.  But  why  were  soldiers  and  thieves  allowed  to  steal 
the  bric-a-brac  and  furniture  and  break  the  mirrors  of  the 
Emperor's  personal  apartments,  to  wantonly  shatter  beauti- 
ful columns,  deface  rare  works  of  art,  punch  holes  in  gilded 
statues,  tip  over  the  noble  bronze  statue  of  Buddha  in  the 
temple  which  crowns  the  summit  of  the  hill  at  the  Summer 
Palace,  and  with  malicious  pains  smash  the  heads  of  thous- 
ands of  exquisitely  carved  figures  and  lions  ?  The  world  is 
poorer  for  some  of  this  havoc,  and  it  will  be  a  generation 
before  it  can  be  remedied,  if,  indeed,  the  edifices  are  ever 
restored  to  their  former  beauty.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  H. 
Smith  writes : 

"Bating  all  exaggerations,  it  remains  true  that  scores  of 
walled  cities  have  been  visited  by  armed  bodies  of  foreign 
soldiers,  the  district  Magistrate — and  sometimes  the  Prefect 
— held  up  and  bullied  to  force  him  to  pay  a  large  sum  of 
mone3^  with  no  other  reason  than  the  imperative  demand 
and  the  threat  of  dire  consequences  on  refusal.  In  one  case 
the  Russians  kidnapped  the  Prefect  of  Yung  P'ing  Fu  and 
carried  him  oflE  to  Port  Arthur.  At  Ting  Chou  the  French 
did  the  same  to  the  sub-Prefect,  the  only  energetic  Magistrate 


ISO 

in  all  that  region,  bearing  him  in  triumph  to  Paotingfu  and 
leaving  the  district  to  Boxers  and  to  chaos.  At  Ts'ang  Chou 
the  Germans  came  in  force,  looted  the  yamen  of  General  Mei, 
the  only  Chinese  officer  of  rank  who  had  been  constantly 
fighting  and  destroying  Boxers  for  nearly  a  year,  drove  him 
away  and  released  all  the  Boxer  prisoners  in  the  jails  of  the 
city,  plundering  the  yamen  of  the  friendly  and  efficient  sub- 
Prefect  who  had  saved  the  lives  of  the  foreign  families  close 
by  the  city.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  General  Mei  complained 
that  '  on  eight  sides  he  had  no  face  left,'  and  that  it  is  now 
no  longer  safe  for  any  foreigner  to  travel  in  Chihli  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  military  outposts?" 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  atrocities  committed  by  the 
troops  of  the  allied  armies  in  China  last  summer?  Bishop 
D.  H.  Moore,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  wrote:  "You  can 
hardly  form  any  conception  of  the  exposure  and  hardships 
under  any  but  the  American  and  Japanese  flags.  The 
English  have  scarcely  any  but  the  Sikhs,  who  are  lustful  and 
lootful  to  a  degree.  The  Russians  are  brutal  and  Germans 
deserve  their  reputation  for  brutality.  With  Lowry  and 
Hobart,  I  responded  to  the  agonizing  appeal  of  a  husband  to 
drive  out  a  German  corporal  who,  on  duty  and  armed,  had 
run  him  off  and  was  mistreating  his  wife.  The  instance  is 
but  one  of  hundreds  of  daily  occurrence.  The  French  are 
very  devils  at  this  sort  of  outrage.  On  the  advance  to 
Peking,  beyond  Tungchow,  they  found  married  families — 
men,  women  and  children — cowering  in  barges  on  the  canal 
and  volleyed  into  them.  Every  man,  every  cart,  every  boat 
must  fly  a  flag.  Coolies  are  cruelly  impressed  and  often 
cruelly  mistreated.  On  one  side  of  the  street  the  Germans 
are  in  authority;  on  the  other  side  the  Americans.  The  one 
is  deserted,  the  other  is  a  hive.  The  great  Christian  nations 
of  the  world  are  being  represented  in  China  by  robbing,  rap- 
ine, looting  soldiery.  This  is  part  of  China's  punishment; 
but  what  will  she  think  of  Christianity?  Of  course,  our 
soldiers  are  the  best  behaved  ;  but  there  are  desperate  char- 
acters in  every  army." 

The  Japan  Weekly  Mail  says :  "  It  sends  a  thrill  of  horror 
through  every  white  man's  bosom  to  learn  that  forty  mission- 
ary women  and  twenty-five  little  children  were  butchered  by 
the  Boxers.  But  in  Tung  Chou  alone,  a  city  where  the 
Chinese  made  no  resistance  and  where  there  was  no  fighting, 
five  hundred  and  seventy-three  Chinese  women  of  the  upper 
classes  committed  suicide  rather  than  survive  the  indignities 
they  had  suffered.  Women  of  the  lower  classes  fared 
similarly  at  the  hands  of  the  soldiers,  but  were  not  unwilling 
to  survive  their  shame.  With  what  show  of  consistency  is 
the  Occident  to  denounce  the  barbarity  of  the  Chinese,  when 


Occidental  soldiers  go  to  China  and  perpetrate  the  very  acts 
which  constitute  the  very  basis  of  barbarity  ?  "  And  when  I 
asked  the  Rev.  Dr.  D.  Z.  Sheffield,  for  many  years  a  missionary 
of  the  American  Board  in  Tung  Chou,  whether  this  statement 
was  accurate,  he  replied  that  it  was  not  only  true,  but  that  it 
was  an  understatement  of  the  truth.  The  New  York  limes 
declares  that  every  outrage  perpetrated  on  foreigners  in 
China  has  been  repaid  tenfold  by  the  brutalities  perpetrated 
by  the  allied  armies.  "  It  is,"  adds  the  editor,  "  simply 
monstrous  that  the  armies  of  Christian  nations,  sent  out  to 
punish  barbarism  and  protect  the  rights  of  foreigners  in 
China,  should  themselves  be  guilty  of  barbarism.  Revenge 
has  been  accompanied  by  mean  and  cruel  and  flagrant  rob- 
bery. The  story  is  one  to  fill  all  rational  minds  with  disgust 
and  shame." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Chinese  continue  to  hate  for- 
eigners ?  How  can  we  expect  them  to  love  us  as  long  as 
they  cannot  go  through  the  foreign  settlements  to  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  in  Tientsin  for  fear  of  insult  on 
the  notorious  Taku  Road,  or  walk  the  streets  of  Shanghai 
without  being  daily  subjected  to  violence  from  brutal  white 
men,  or  when,  as  in  Peking,  even  respectable  American 
ladies,  to  say  nothing  of  Chinese,  cannot  prudently  ride  out 
except  in  closed  carts,  so  great  is  the  probability  of  indignity 
at  the  hands  of  foreign  soldiers.  As  an  American  citizen,  I 
am  thankful  that  our  American  troops  conducted  themselves 
more  decently. 

Nor  am  I  ashamed  of  the  policy  of  our  Government.  I 
am  aware  that  a  majority  of  the  American  citizens  in  China 
believe  that  our  national  policy  has  been  weak  and  short- 
sighted. The  missionaries  speak  highly  of  the  kindness  of 
Minister  Conger  and  the  United  States  Consuls  at  Shanghai 
and  Canton,  while  everybody  praises  the  magnificent  energy 
of  Consul  John  Fowler,  at  Chefoo,  who  is  only  now  begin- 
ning to  receive  the  credit  that  is  justly  his  due.  But  I  have 
been  repeatedly  told  that  our  Government  did  not  appear  to 
realize  that  there  were  any  other  American  citizens  or  prop- 
erties in  China  than  those  in  the  Peking  Legation ;  that  it  did 
absolutely  nothing  to  rescue  its  citizens  in  the  prefecture  of 
Paotingfu  and  the  Province  of  Shansi ;  that,  while  we  con- 
demn the  policy  of  the  European  Powers,  we  have  been  for 
years  sponging  benefits  secured  by  them  for  all  foreigners, 
and  that,  if  it  were  not  for  their  control  of  the  situation,  not 
an  American  could  live  in  China  to-day.  The  opinion  is 
well-nigh  universal  here  that  the  Washington  Administration 
has  been  too  much  influenced  by  the  astute  Chinese  Minister, 
Wu  Ting  Fang,  who  is  believed  to  be  an  adept  in  "the  ways 
that  are  dark  and  the  tricks  that  are  vain,"  and  whose  sue- 


^52 

cess  in  "  hoodwinking  the  Government  and  people  of  the 
United  States"  make  the  average  foreigner  in  the  Far  East 
devoutly  wish,  with  good  old  Bishop  Cox,  that  some  one 
would  compose  a  form  of  sound  words  suitable  for  the  use 
of  pious  men  in  circumstances  of  great  provocation.  The 
men  who  criticize  our  nation's  polic}'  do  not  want  revenge  or 
cruelty,  and  they  deplore  as  greatly  as  any  one  the  atrocities 
perpetrated  by  the  European  troops  and  the  selfishness  and 
avarice  which  apparently  dictate  European  policy.  But  they 
do  want  America  to  more  adequately  realize  its  responsibili- 
ties in  China  ;  to  protect  its  citizens  irrespective  of  their  oc- 
cupations, so  long  as  their  occupations  are  legitimate,  and 
to  abandon  the  idea  that  it  can  escape  its  duty  in  and  toward 
China  on  Cain's  plea  that  we  are  not  our  "  brother's 
keeper." 

Though  I  confess  that  I  am  not  able  to  satisfactorily  ex- 
plain the  course  of  our  Government  in  some  important  de- 
tails, I  cannot  endorse  all  those  criticisms.  During  the  dark 
days  of  the  siege,  I  was,  as  secretary  for  North  China, 
brought  into  frequent  correspondence  with  President  McKinley 
and  Secretary  of  State  Hay,  and  I  vividly  and  gratefully  re- 
member the  sympathy  and  co-operation  which  they  invariably 
gave  me.  They  were  as  anxious  as  anyone,  and  tried  to  do 
their  best  in  circumstances  new,  strange  and  of  extraordinary 
difficulty.  As  for  the  Chinese  Minister  to  the  United  States, 
of  course  he  did  what  he  could  to  "  save  face  "  for  his  coun- 
try. That  was  an  essential  part  of  his  duty.  But  while  we 
cannot  always  agree  with  him,  we  should,  as  friends  of  China, 
recognize  the  fact  that  by  his  ability  and  tact,  he  has  largely 
increased  popular  interest  in  and  respect  for  the  Chinese 
people.  Taking  our  Government's  policy  as  a  w^hole,  I  be- 
lieve that  it  has  been  more  in  accord  with  Christian  princi- 
ples than  that  of  any  other  nation.  If  our  Government  has 
erred  in  trusting  the  Chinese  too  much,  that  is  at  least  bet- 
ter than  erring  by  trusting  them  too  little.  If  it  has  failed 
to  do  all  for  its  own  citizens  that  it  ought  to  have  done,  it 
has  not  wronged  or  humiliated  the  Chinese.  There  is  no 
blood  of  Chinese  women  and  children  on  American  hands  ; 
no  record  of  outrage  and  iniquity  blackens  the  page  on  which 
the  American  part  of  the  Boxer  outbreak  will  be  written.  If 
our  nation  has  been  unjust  to  any,  it  has  been  to  its  own. 
Generations  will  pass  before  the  northern  provinces  will  for- 
get the  bitterness  of  resentment  which  they  now  feel  toward 
the  European  Powers.  But  already  they  are  beginning  to 
understand  that  the  Americans  are  their  friends ;  that  we  do 
not  seek  territory ;  that  we  will  not  be  a  party  to  extortion  ; 
that  we  do  not  want  to  destroy  her  but  to  save  her;  that  our 
object  is  not  to  rule  her,  but  to  fit  her  to   rule   herself,  and 


153 

that  we  desire  only  freedom  to  peacefully  trade  and  to  com- 
municate those  ideas  of  religion  which  we  ourselves  origin- 
ally received  from  the  Far  East,  which  have  brought  to  us 
inestimable  blessings,  and  which  will,  in  China  as  in  Amer- 
ica, result  in  the  truest  happiness  and  the  purest  character 
for  the  individual,  and  the  most  stable  institutions  and  gen- 
uine greatness  of  the  nation. 

But  America  is  not  prominent  enough  in  China  to  make 
her  example  a  determinate  factor  in  the  attitude  of  the  nation 
toward  foreigners,  nor  are  the  people  likely  to  discriminate 
in  favor  of  a  few  Americans  among  the  hosts  of  aggressive, 
grasping,  domineering  Europeans.  On  all  sides,  too,  I  am 
told  that  while  the  Chihli  Province  feels  the  awful  force  of  its 
punishment,  the  reactionary  oificials  and  the  nation  as  a  whole 
are  unmoved.  Nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  out  of  a  thous- 
and Chinese  hear  only  what  their  scholars  and  officials  tell 
them,  and  those  worthies  are  careful  to  adjust  the  account  to 
suit  their  own  purposes,  and  to  save  the  national  "face." 
They  blandly  assure  the  credulous  people  that  the  foreign 
armies  did  not  follow  the  court  because  they  dared  not;  that 
the  alien  troops  are  leaving  the  capital  because  they  are  be- 
ing driven  out  by  Chinese  patriots  ;  that  the  Boxers  inflicted 
crushing  defeat  upon  their  foes,  etc.  In  Tsingtau  the  Ger- 
mans are  digging  sewers,  broad  and  deep,  with  laterals  to 
every  house  and  public  building,  and  the  natives  actually  say 
that  these  sewers  are  intended  to  be  underground  passage- 
ways, down  which  the  foreigners  can  flee  to  their  boats  when 
they  are  assailed  by  the  redoubtable  Boxers ! 

Chefoo  is  a  city  where  foreigners  have  resided  for  forty 
years,  where  there  are  consuls  of  all  nations  and  extensive 
business  relations  with  other  ports,  where  foreign  steamers 
daily  arrive  and  depart,  and  where  warships  frequently  lie. 
There  are  five  formidable  cruisers  here  now.  Surely  the 
Chinese  of  Chefoo  should  understand  the  situation.  But  dur- 
ing the  troubles  of  1860  French  troops  were  quartered  here, 
and  their  conduct  was  so  atrociously  brutal  and  lustful  that 
Chefoo  has  ever  since  been  bitterly  anti-foreign.  The  Pres- 
byterian missionaries  have  repeatedly  tried  to  do  Christian 
work  in  the  old  walled  city,  but  have  never  succeeded  in 
gaining  a  foothold,  and  all  their  local  missionary  work  is 
confined  to  the  numerous  population  which  has  come  from 
other  parts  of  the  province  and  settled  around  Chefoo  proper. 
Nothing  but  battleships  in  the  harbor  kept  that  old  city  from 
attacking  foreigners  last  summer.  This  spring  the  cry  "kill, 
kill"  was  raised  as  a  foreigner  walked  through  the  streets, 
and  only  last  week  inflammatory  placards  were  posted  on  the 
w^alls,  while  word  has  just  arrived  that  within  a  day's  journey 
of  the  German  headquarters  at  Tsingtau  the  populace  is 
angrily  protesting  against  the  recent  increase  of  taxes. 


154 

Nevertheless,  the  future  is  not  necessarily  so  doubtful  as 
the  present  temper  of  the  people  might  indicate.  To  a  great- 
er extent  than  any  other  people  the  Chinese  are  led  by  their 
officials,  and  some  of  the  high  officials  have  learned  that 
massacres  of  foreigners  result  in  the  coming  of  more  for- 
eigners, in  the  capture  and  destruction  of  cities,  in  humiliat- 
ing terms  of  peace,  in  heavy  indemnities  and  large  conces- 
sions of  territory  and  in  the  degradation  and  perhaps  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  magistrates  within  whose  jurisdiction  the 
tumult  occurs. 

In  my  tour  through  the  interior  of  the  Shantung  and 
Chihli  provinces,  the  magistrates  appeared  to  be  almost  ner- 
vously anxious  that  no  mishap  should  befall  me.  I  had  sent 
no  announcement  of  my  coming  to  any  one  except  my  mis- 
sionary friends,  nor  had  I  asked  for  any  favor  or  protection 
save  the  usual  passport  through  the  United  States  Consul. 
But  the  first  Tao-tai  I  met  politely  inquired  about  my 
route,  and,  as  I  afterward  learned,  sent  word  to  the  next  mag- 
istrate. He  in  turn  forwarded  the  word  to  the  one  beyond, 
and  so  on  throughout  the  whole  trip.  As  we  approached 
a  city,  uniformed  attendants  from  the  chief  magistrate's 
yamen  met  us  and  escorted  us,  sometimes  with  much 
display  of  banners  and  trumpets  and  armed  guards,  to  an  inn 
which  had  been  prepared  for  our  reception  by  having  a  little 
of  its  dirt  swept  into  the  corners  and  a  few  of  its  bugs  killed. 
Then  would  come  a  feast  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  courses 
of  Chinese  delicacies,  some  of  which  I  found  very  good.  A 
call  from  the  magistrate  himself  followed,  and  he  chatted 
amicably  while  great  crowds  stood  silently  about.  Not  for  a 
moment,  day  or  night,  were  we  out  of  the  sight  of  soldiers. 
If  we  took  a  walk  about  a  village  they  followed  us.  Eating, 
sleeping  or  traveling,  we  were  always  watched.  Several 
times  we  tried  to  escape  such  espionage,  or  to  induce  the 
soldiers  to  turn  back.  We  did  not  feel  our  need  of  them, 
nor  did  I  desire  my  peaceful  mission  to  be  associated  with  a 
military  display.  Besides,  if  hostility  should  be  manifested, 
a  dozen  Chinese  soldiers  would  be  of  little  avail  among  those 
swarming  millions.  But  our  efiforts  and  protests  were  vain. 
Each  official  was  determined  to  make  it  plain  that  he  was 
doing  his  duty  in  trying  to  protect  these  foreigners,  so  that 
if  they  got  hurt  it  would  not  be  his  fault.  Perhaps,  too,  he 
was  not  averse  to  showing  the  populace  that  foreigners  had 
to  be  guarded.  I  was  half-ashamed  to  travel  in  that  way. 
But  I  could  not  help  myself. 

Whether  any  attack  would  have  been  made  if  I  had  been 
allowed  to  journey  quietly  with  my  one  or  two  missionary 
companions,  I  am  not  competent  to  judge.  Foreigners,  who 
have   lived   many   years    in  China    told   me  before   starting 


155 

that  my  life  would  not  be  safe  beyond  rifle  shot.  They  have 
told  me  since  that  the  profuse  attentions  I  received  were 
mere  pretense  ;  that  the  very  officials  who  welcomed  me  as 
an  honored  guest  probably  cursed  my  race  as  soon  as  my 
back  was  turned,  and  that,  if  the  people  had  not  understood 
from  the  presence  of  the  troops  and  from  the  magistrate's 
marked  personal  attentions,  that  I  was  not  to  be  molested, 
my  wife  would  probably  have  had  a  chance  to  collect  my  life 
insurance.  The  views  of  such  experienced  men  are  not  to 
be  lightly  set  aside. 

All  I  can  say  is  that  on  these  suppositions  the  Chinese 
are  masters  of  the  art  of  dissimulation,  for  in  all  my  journey- 
ings  through  the  very  heart  of  the  region  where  the  Boxers 
originated,  and  where  the  anti-foreign  hatred  is  said  to  be 
bitterest,  I  saw  not  the  faintest  sign  of  unfriendliness.  The 
typical  official  received  me  with  the  courtesy  of  a  "  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school."  The  vast  throngs  which  quickly 
assembled  at  every  stopping  place,  while  silent,  were  respect- 
ful. We  tried  to  behave  decently  ourselves,  to  speak  kindly 
to  every  man,  to  pay  fair  prices  for  what  we  bought  ;  in 
short,  to  act  just  as  we  would  have  acted  in  America.  And 
every  man  to  whom  I  smiled,  smiled  in  return.  Wherever 
we  asked  a  civil  question  we  got  a  civil  answer.  Coolies 
would  stop  their  barrows,  farmers  leave  their  fields  to  direct 
us  aright.  In  all  my  weeks  of  almost  incessant  traveling  in 
the  interior,  amid  a  population  so  dense  that  I  constantly 
marveled,  I  never  heard  a  rude  word,  nor  saw  a  hostile  sign. 
I  naturally  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  those  pleasant, 
obliging  people  would  have  killed  me  if  they  had  not  been 
restrained  by  their  magistrates,  and  that  the  officials  who 
exerted  themselves  to  show  us  all  possible  honor  would  have 
gladly  seen  us  murdered  if  they  had  dared. 

And  yet  just  one  year  ago  these  identical  people  were 
angrily  destroying  the  property  and  venomously  seeking  the 
lives  of  foreigners  who  were  as  peaceably  disposed  as  I  am, 
ruthlessly  slaying  not  only  men,  but  women  who  had  never 
done  them  wrong,  but  who  had  devoted  their  lives  to  teach- 
ing the  young  and  healing  the  sick  and  preaching  the  Gospel 
of  love  and  good  will  ;  and  the  best-informed  men  I  meet 
here,  from  Sir  Robert  Hart  down,  are  fearful  that  the  end  is 
not  yet,  and  that  an  official  order  might  repeat  the  whole 
bloody  history.  At  a  conference  with  forty  representative 
missionaries  of  all  denominations  in  Shanghai,  a  very 
large  majority  agreed  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Parker,  of  the 
Southern  Methodist  Church,  in  the  statement  :  "  We  are  not 
out  of  the  trouble  yet ;  the  reactionaries  are  in  the  minority, 
but  they  are  in  power.  They  have  learned  nothing  and  they 
will  try  again  to  drive  us  out  unless  the  Powers  unseat   them 


156 

and  reinstate  the  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party."  Mean- 
time, famine  has  brought  the  great  Provinces  of  Shansi  and 
Shensi  to  such  pitiable  extremity  that  human  flesh  is  being 
openly  sold  for  food.  The  Yungting  River  has  overflowed 
its  banks  in  Chihli.  The  Yellow  River,  "  China's  Sorrow," 
is  again  desolating  wide  areas  in  Shantung,  and  the  flood  in 
the  Yang-tse  valley  is  said  to  be  the  most  extensive  known 
for  three-quarters  of  a  century.  Vast  regions  of  the  most 
fertile  and  thickly  populated  part  of  the  empire  are  at  this 
writing  a  continuous  expanse  of  water,  and  the  wretched  in- 
habitants, destitute  and  starving,  are  huddled  in  abject  de- 
spair on  the  higher  ground  beyond.  Multitudes  will  be  like 
ravening  wolves  this  winter.  The  three  hundred  missionaries 
of  all  denominations  who  are  spending  their  vacation  at  Ru- 
ling, the  mid-China  mountain  resort,  are  reported  in  the 
Shanghai  Daily  News  to  be  "'permeated  by  feelings  of  un- 
certainty and  distrust  as  to  what  the  future  holds  in  store. 
Many  fear  unrest  among  the  people  in  Central  China  on 
account  of  the  floods,  and  they  are  not  satisfied  with  the  out- 
look for  questions  in  the  North." 

It  would  be  unwise  to  underestimate  the  gravity  of  the 
situation,  or  to  assume  that  the  most  numerous  and  con- 
servative nation  on  the  globe  has  been  suddenly  transformed 
from  foreign  haters  to  foreign  lovers.  The  world  may  again 
have  occasion  to  realize  that  the  momentum  of  countless 
myriads  is  an  awful  force,  even  against  the  resources  of  a 
higher  civilization,  as  the  Romans  found  to  their  conster- 
nation when  the  barbarian  hordes  overran  the  Empire.  We 
do  not  know  how  long  the  disturbance  will  continue,  nor 
what  further  proportions  it  may  assume.  Already  it  has 
brought  the  greatest  peril  to  devoted  men  and  women,  as 
well  as  the  destruction  of  much  valuable  property.  It  may 
be  that  much  blood  will  yet  be  shed.  Inflamed  passions  will 
certainly  be  slow  in  subsiding.  Men  who  are  identified  with 
the  old  era  will  not  give  up  without  a  furious  struggle.  Both 
boards  and  missionaries  must  exercise  great  tact.  It  took 
three  hundred  years  to  bring  England  from  pagan  barbarism 
to  Christian  civilization,  and  China  is  vaster  more  and  more 
conservative  than  England.  The  world  moves  faster  now, 
and  the  change-producing  forces  of  the  present  exceed  those 
of  former  centuries  in  mighty  effectiveness  as  much  as  a 
modern  steam  hammer  exceeds  the  puny  hand  hammer  of 
old.  But  China  is  ponderous,  and  a  few  decades  are  short 
for  so  gigantic  a  transformation. 

The  partition  of  her  territory  is  possible.  The  Powers 
do  not  want  it  now,  partly  because  they  fear  that  the  result- 
ant scramble  would  involve  them  in  war  with  one  another, 
partly    because    they    dread    the    uncertainties  of  direct   ad- 


157 

ministration  of  so  huge  and  stubborn  a  population.  So  they 
prefer  their  present  policy  of  "  spheres  of  influence."  But  if 
partition  should  come  it  would  only  hasten  the  development 
of  those  teeming  millions  of  people,  for  foreign  domination 
would  mean  more  railway,  telegraph  and  steamship  lines. 
It  would  mean  the  opening  of  mines,  the  development  of  the 
press,  the  domination  of  Western  ideas.  It  would  give  the 
missionaries  readier  access  to  every  part  of  the  Empire.  And, 
though  China  as  a  political  organism  might  be  divided,  the 
Chinese  people  would  remain  the  most  virile,  industrious, 
untiring  people  of  Asia,  and  perhaps,  after  due  tutelage,  a 
coming  power  of  the  world. 

But  trying  and  even  awful  as  the  period  of  transition  may 
be,  the  issue  is  not  for  a  moment  doubtful.  Truth  always 
overcomes  error.  Progress  invariably  wins  the  victory  over 
blind  conservatism.  The  higher  civilization  is  sure  to  con- 
quer the  lower.  With  all  its  admixture  of  greed,  selfishness 
and  violence,  the  fact  remains  that  the  forces  operating  on 
China  to-day  include  the  vital  regenerative  element  for  the 
world.  We  are  not  wise  above  what  is  written  when  we  de- 
clare that  the  eternal  purpose  of  God  comprehends  China  as 
well  as  America.  He  did  not  create  those  four  hundred  mil- 
lions of  human  beings  to  simply  fertilize  the  soil  in  which 
their  bodies  will  lie.  He  has  not  preserved  China  as  a  nation 
during  these  forty-eight  centuries  for  nothing.  Out  of  the 
apparent  wreck  the  order  of  a  new  dispensation  will  come — 
is  already  coming.  Frightened  men  thought  that  the  fall  of 
Rome  meant  the  end  of  the  world,  but  we  can  now  see  that 
it  cleared  the  way  for  the  Gospel.  Pessimists  feared  that 
the  violence  and  blood  of  the  crusades  would  ruin  Europe, 
but  instead  they  broke  up  the  stagnation  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  made  possible  the  rise  of  modern  Europe.  The  faint- 
hearted said  that  the  India  mutiny  of  1857  and  the  Syria 
massacres  of  1860  ended  all  hope  of  further  missionary  work 
in  those  countries,  but  in  both  they  ushered  in  the  most  suc- 
cessful era  of  missions.  We  have  long  felt  that  the  barriers 
which  have  separated  China  from  the  rest  of  the  world  must, 
like  the  medieval  wall  of  Tientsin,  be  cast  down  and  over 
them  a  highway  for  all  men  be  made.  We  did  not  expect 
the  process  to  be  so  sudden  and  violent.  But  the  hammer  of 
God  is  doing  in  months  what  would  otherwise  have  taken 
weary  generations.  Let  us  not  be  discouraged  because  the 
air  is  still  filled  with  the  deafening  tumult  and  the  blinding 
dust  and  the  flying  debris.  Let  us  not  lose  heart  and  sound 
a  retreat  because  some  ''of  whom  the  world  is  not  worthy" 
have  been  crushed  in  the  awful  rending.  But  let  us  utilize 
the  new  opportunity  which  is  given  us.  Up  to  this  time  we 
have  been  playing  with  foreign  missions.     It  is  now  time  for 


iS8 

the  Church  of  God  to  understand  that  its  great  work  in  the 
new  century  is  to  plan  this  movement  on  a  scale  gigantic  in 
comparison  with  anything  we  have  yet  done,  and,  in  a  spirit 
of  the  broadest  Christian  statesmanship,  to  intelligently, 
adequately  and  prayerfully  grapple  with  the  stupehdous  task 
of  Christianizing  Asia. 

But  some  are  saying  that  this  trouble  has  destroyed  their 
confidence  in  missionary  work,  and  that  we  ought  to  abandon 
the  elTort  to  evangelize  the  Chinese.  Many  are  aSking : 
"Shall  you  send  any  more  missionaries  to  China?"  I  reply: 
"Shall  we  send  any  more  merchants,  any  more  consuls,  any 
more  oil,  flour,  cotton  ?  Shall  we  continue  our  political  and 
commercial  relations  with  China  and  discontinue  our  religious 
relations ;  allow  the  lower  influences  to  flow  on  unchecked, 
but  withhold  the  spiritual  forces  which  would  purify  politics 
and  commerce,  which  have  made  us  what  we  are,  and  which 
can  alone  regenerate  the  millions  of  China  ?  " 

Is  disaster  a  reason  for  withdrawal  ?  When  our  forefathers 
found  themselves  involved  in  the  horrors  of  the  Revolution, 
did  they  say  that  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  remained 
subjects  of  Great  Britain  ?  When,  a  generation  ago,  our  land 
was  drenched  with  the  blood  of  the  Civil  War,  did  men  think 
that  they  ought  to  have  tolerated  secession  and  slavery  ? 
When  the  Maine  was  blown  up  in  Havana  Harbor  and  Lawton 
was  killed  in  Luzon,  did  we  demand  withdrawal  from  Cuba 
and  the  Phillipines  ?  When  the  gallant  Liscum  fell  under 
the  walls  of  Tientsin,  did  we  insist  that  our  troops  should  be 
recalled  ?  Or  did  not  the  American  people,  in  every  one  of 
these  instances,  find  in  the  very  agonies  of  struggle  and  de- 
feat a  decisive  reason  for  advance  ?  Did  they  not  sternly 
resolve  that  there  should  be  men,  that  there  should  be  money, 
and  that  the  war  should  be  pressed  to  victory  whatever  the 
sacrifice  that  might  be  involved  ? 

And  shall  the  Church  of  God  weakly,  timidly  run  away 
because  the  very  troubles  have  occurred  which  Christ  Him- 
self predicted,  for  He  frankly  said  that  He  came  "not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  sword  ;  that  there  should  be  wars  and  rumors  of 
wars  ;  "  that  his  disciples  should  "be  hated  of  all  men  ;  "  that 
He  sent  them  "forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves,"  and 
that  the  brother  should  "deliver  up  the  brother  to  death  and 
the  father  the  child."  But  in  that  very  discourse  He  also 
said:  "He  that  taketh  not  his  cross  and  followeth  after  Me 
is  not  worthy  of  Me."  Shall  we  abandon  those  myriads  of 
Chinese  Christians  in  their  hour  of  peril,  leave  the  Christian 
name  to  be  disgraced,  the  rest  of  the  mission  property  to  be 
destroyed,  the  work  of  weary  years  to  be  wholly  undone  ? 
Suppose  Christ  had  abandoned  the  effort  to  save  men  when 
mobs  threatened  Him  and  the  nation  crucified  Him ! 


159 

At  this  solemn  time,  when  we  stand,  as  it  were,  in  the 
presence  of  the  charred  remains  of  our  beloved  dead  at 
Paotingfu  and  look  upon  our  ruined  stations  and  the  frightful 
persecutions  of  our  Chinese  Christians;  and  not  only  this,  but 
when  we  remember  the  savage  beasts  which  tore  the  flesh  of 
the  early  disciples  in  the  arenas  of  Nero,  the  hissing  flames 
which  burned  the  bodies  of  a  Savonarola,  a  Huss  and  a 
Wiclif ;  when  we  recall  the  catacombs  of  Rome,  the  pyres  of 
Smithfield,  the  dungeons  of  the  Tolbooth  and  the  thumb- 
screws of  the  Inquisition, — I  say  by  Paul's  "Woe  is  me  if  I 
preach  the  not  Gospel,"  and  Luther's  "Here  I  stand,  God  help 
me,  I  can  do  no  other,"  aye,  by  the  holy  constraint  of  Him 
whose  sweet  yet  peremptory  voice  calls  us  to  follow  His 
bleeding  feet,  we  will — we  must  go  on  until  all  China  has 
learned  of  Christ.  And  I  am  persuaded  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  will  say  with  us:  "This  is  God's  call  for  a  forward 
movement  in  China.  We  must  send  more  missionaries,  more 
money,  give  every  station  an  adecjuate  equipment  and  press 
the  whole  majestic  enterprise  with  new  faith  and  power." 

But  we  are  told  that  we  shall  not  be  allowed  to  go  on ; 
that  one  of  the  indispensable  conditions  of  peace  will  be  the 
exclusion  of  missionaries  from  China,  as  neither  China 
nor  the  Powers  will  permit  any  further  work  of  this  kind. 
On  this  point  I  venture  three  suggestions  : 

First — No  administration  that  can  ever  be  elected  in 
'  America  will  thus  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  the  Church. 
It  will  never  say  that  arms  manufacturing  companies  can 
send  representatives  to  Peking  and  breweries  and  distilleries 
send  drummers  to  Shanghai,  but  that  the  Church  of  God  cannot 
send  intelligent,  devoted  men  and  women  to  found  schools 
and  hospitals  and  printing-presses  and  to  preach  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  will  never  say  that  American  gamblers 
in  Tientsin  and  American  prostitutes  in  Hankow  shall  be 
protected  by  all  the  might  of  the  American  army  and  navy, 
but  that  the  pure,  high-minded  missionary,  who  represents 
the  noblest  motives  and  ideals  of  our  American  life,  shall  be 
expatriated — -a  man  without  a  country. 

This  is,  however,  a  problem  for  the  nation,  rather  than 
for  the  Board.  The  American  missionary  went  to  Asia  be- 
fore his  Government  did,  and  until  recently  he  has  seen  very 
little  of  the  American  flag.  European  nations  have  protect- 
ed their  citizens,  whether  they  were  missionaries  or  traders. 
But  in  the  United  States  Senate  it  has  been  said  that  "  if  our 
citizens  go  to  a  far-distant  country,  semi-civilized  and  bitterly 
opposed  to  their  movements,  we  cannot  follow  them  there 
and  protect  them.  They  ought  to  come  home."  Is,  then, 
the  missionary's  business  less  legitimate  than  the  trader's  ? 
Is  a  man  entitled  to  the  protection  of  his  country  if  he  goes 


i6o 

to  the  Orient  to  sell  opium  and  beer,  but  does  he  forfeit  that 
protection  if  he  goes  there  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  tem- 
perance and  peace  ?  In  the  United  States  Senate  Mr.  Frye 
reminded  the  nation  that  about  twenty  years  ago  England  sent 
an  army  of  15,000  men  down  to  the  African  coast,  across 
seven  hundred  miles  of  burning  sand,  to  batter  down  iron 
gates  and  stone  walls,  reach  down  into  an  Abyssinian 
dungeon  and  lift  out  of  it  one  British  subject  who  had  been 
unlawfully  imprisoned.  It  cost  England  $25,000,000  to  do 
it,  but  it  made  a  highway  over  this  planet  for  every  common 
son  of  Britain,  and  the  words  "I  am  an  English  citizen  "  more 
potent  than  the  scepter  of  a  king.  And  because  of  that  repu- 
tation American  missionaries  have  more  than  once  been 
saved  by  the  intervention  of  British  ministers  and  consuls, 
who  have  not  forgotten  that  "blood  is  thicker  than  water." 
Shall  we  vociferously  curse  England  one  day  and  the  next 
supinely  depend  upon  her  representatives  to  help  us  out 
when  our  missionaries  are  endangered  ?  This  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  "  jingoism,"  whatever  that  may  be.  It  is  not  a  ciues- 
tion  of  making  unreasonable  complaints  to  our  own  Govern- 
ment. It  is  not  a  question  of  religion  or  of  missions.  It  is 
a  question  of  treaties,  of  citizenship,  of  national  honor  and 
of  self-respect.  Let  the  nation  settle  it  from  that  viewpoint. 
The  missionary  asks  no  special  privileges.  He  can  stand  it 
to  go  on  as  before,  if  the  nation  can  stand  it  to  have  him. 

Second — If  China  shall  make  such  a  demand  in  repudiation 
of  the  treaties  which  she  herself  has  expressly  acknowledged 
to  be  valid,  and  if  all  the  Powers  shall  support  her  in  that 
demand,  does  anybody  doubt  what  the  missionary  will  say  ? 
He  will  reply  :  "  I  did  not  receive  my  commission  from  any 
earthly  potentate,  but  from  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords."  He  will'  follow  the  example  of  Dr.  Hamlin  who, 
when  the  Russian  Minister  in  Constantinople  haughtily  said : 
"My  master,  the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias,  will  not  let  you  put 
foot  on  that  territory,  "  replied,  "  My  Master,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  will  never  ask  the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  where  He 
shall  put  His  foot."  He  will  say  with  Peter  and  John,  who, 
when  scourged  and  forbidden  to  preach  any  more  in  the  Name 
of  Jesus,  friendless  and  penniless  as  they  were,  ringingly 
answered  :  "Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken 
unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot  but 
speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  Some 
will  say  this  is  madness.  So  of  old  men  said  of  Christ:  "He 
hath  a  demon."  So  they  said  of  Paul:  "Thou  art  beside 
thyself."  In  these  days  of  effeminate  faith  and  self- 
indulgent  life,  when  some  people  think  they  cannot  go  to 
church  when  it  rains,  and  complain  if  they  are  asked  to  give  the 
price  of  a  cigar  to  missions,  let  the  world  know  that  the  mis- 


i6i 

sionary  of  the  Cross  is  still  willing  to  suffer,  and  if  need  be, 
to  die  for  Jesus'  sake. 

Does  any  sane  man  imagine  that  the  Church  could  cease 
to  be  missionary  and  remain  a  church  ?  Politically,  Benjamin 
Kidd  declares  that  Americans  might  as  well  face  the  utter 
futility  of  any  hypothesis  based  upon  the  supposition  that 
America  can  remain  away  from  the  Orient.  The  last  three 
years  have  made  changes  in  America's  relation  to  the  world 
which  we  can  no  more  recall  than  we  can  alter  the  course  of 
the  planet.  It  is  idle  for  doctrinaires  to  tell  us  from  the 
quiet  comfort  of  home  libraries,  that  we  should  "  keep  hands 
off."  We  can  no  more  keep  hands  off  than  our  country 
could  keep  hands  off  the  slavery  of  the  South  ;  no  more  than 
New  York  could  keep  hands  off  a  borough  infected  with 
smallpox.  The  world  has  passed  the  point  where  one-third 
of  its  population  can  be  allowed  to  breed  moral  miasma  which 
the  other  two-thirds  must  breathe.  Both  for  China's  sake 
and  for  our  own,  we  must  continue  this  work.  If  this  is  true 
in  the  political  and  commercial  realms,  much  more  is  it  true 
in  the  religious.  Chalmer's  notable  sermon  on  the  "  Expul- 
sive Power  of  a  New  Affection  "  enunciates  a  permanent 
principle.  When  a  man's  soul  is  once  thrilled  with  the  con- 
viction that  Christ  is  his  Saviour,  he  must  declare  that  glori- 
ous truth, 

"  To  doubt  would  be  disloyalty, 
To  falter  would  be  sin." 

Christ  voiced  the  deepest  and  strongest  forces  of  the  regen- 
erated human  heart  in  that  clear,  ringing,  categorical  imper- 
ative "  Go  !  "  and  go  we  must. 

I  confess  to  a  feeling  of  impatience  when  I  am  told  that 
all  our  missionary  plans  for  China  must  be  contingent  "upon 
the  settlement  of  political  negotiations,"  "  the  overthrow  of 
the  Empress  Dowager  and  her  reactionary  advisers,"  "the 
re-establishment  of  the  Emperor  on  his  rightful  throne," 
"the  continuance  in  power  of  Governor  Yuan  Shih  Kai," 
"the  maintenance  of  a  strong  foreign  military  and  naval 
force  in  China,"  "  the  thwarting  of  Russia's  plans  for  suprem- 
acy," etc.  All  these  things  have  been  said  to  me  and  more. 
Are  we  then  to  despairingly  resign  our  commission  from 
Jesus  Christ  and  humbly  ask  a  new  one  from  Caesar?  Not 
so  did  the  apostolic  missionaries,  and  not  so,  I  am  persuaded, 
wall  their  modern  successors  do.  We  cannot,  indeed,  be  in- 
different to  the  course  of  political  events,  or  to  their  bearing 
upon  the  missionary  problem.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
cannot  make  our  obedience  to  Christ  and  our  duty  to  our  fel- 
lowmen  dependent  upon  political  considerations.  To  wait 
until  China  is  pacified  by  the  Powers,  or  "until  she  is  en- 


l62 

lightened  by  the  dissemination  of  truer  conceptions  of  the 
Western  world,"  would  be  to  abdicate  our  responsibility  as 
the  chief  factor  in  bringing  about  a  better  state  of  affairs.  Is 
the  Church  prepared  to  abandon  the  field  to  the  diplomat, 
the  soldier,  the  trader  ?  How  soon  is  China  likely  to  be 
pacified  by  them,  judging  from  their  past  acts  ?  The  Gospel 
is  the  primary  need  of  China  to-day,  not  the  tertiary.  I  be- 
lieve, with  Kidd,  that  "it  is  not  improbable  that,  to  a  future 
observer,  one  of  the  most  curious  features  of  our  time  will 
appear  to  be  the  prevailing  unconsciousness  of  the  real  nature 
of  the  issues  in  the  midst  of  which  we  are  living." 

In  the  words  of  another  :  "  It  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate 
the  grandeur  of  the  opportunity  or  the  power  of  unfaithful- 
ness. Let  us  realize  this  very  great  opportunity,  and  so  go 
forward.  God  grant  that  these  things  may  be  brought  home 
to  us  to-day,  and  that  we  may  go  forth  as  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  Himself,  touched  with  the  flame  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  not  boasting  of  what  we  have  done,  but  impressed 
more  and  more  with  the  thought  that  very  much  more  yet 
remaineth  to  be  possessed,  that  the  fields  are  everywhere 
white  unto  harvest,  and  praying  that  God  will  quicken  our 
halting  steps,  will  accept  our  offerings,  and  arise  and  do 
great  things  by  our  humble  means  to  the  glory  of  His  Holy 
Name." 

Arthur  J.  Brown. 
Shanghai,  China, 
August,  1901. 
Form  No.  112. 

Third  Edition, 

156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York, 
July,  1902. 


BW8240.B87 

Report  of  a  visitation  of  the  China 

,'^,|'""'°"T,^ifolog'calSem,nary-Spee, 


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